Click to play videoThe ugly public sacking of one of India's most eminent cardiac surgeons Dr Naresh Trehan has sparked a fresh row between the doctor’s supporters and the top management of Escorts Heart Institute.
The dispute reached a point of no return on Monday when Trehan's name was struck off Escorts Heart Institute's rosters.
Fortis Healthcare too added fuel to fire when it said Trehan should have been shown the door two years ago.
As the ‘inhospitable’ battle rages on, CNN-IBN debates if healthcare is becoming a victim of corporatisation on the show India 360 To present their sides of the story were Naresh Trahan and Joint Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare and Managing Director Escorts Heart Institue Shivender Mohan Singh.
Medicity vs Escorts: 'Inhospitable' corporates?
The charge against Trehan is that he is setting up his own Rs 1,000-crore hospital Medicity, creating a conflict of interest between Escorts and Medicity.
However, on the show, Trehan denied it was a corporate war and said argued India needed institutes like Medicity which he claimed was at par with international biggies. “Medicity is not just a hospital. It’s an attempt to raise the standards of healthcare in India to another level. If India is becoming a developed nation or even if it’s approaching it, we need institutions like Mayo, Johns Hopkins, Howard, Stanford.”
Trehan also said the making of EHI was a team effort and that everyone involved with the process was proud. “Fortunately the team came together so well and we collectively took it a level where it’s the largest heart institute in the world. Not only the largest and also the one with best results and lowest infection rates in the world. This is something to be proud of and the entire team is proud of it,” he said.
Trehan also rubbished Shivender Singh’s accusation of misappropriation of funds as “lies” if funds
Will Trehan poach from Escorts
There are also fears in the Escorts ranks of possible poaching that could happen when Trehan leaves for Medicity. However, the surgeon remained vague about the possibility and instead invited EHI to work with him. “Don’t forget Escorts Heart Institute is my soul, I built it from scratch and will never want to destroy it. I will want to take it to the highest highs (sic). We can all work together.”
While Trehan speaks of a possible coming together, there are many you believe he is trying to overshadow Escorts by making attempts to prove that individual is bigger than the organisation.
Trehan lashed out a the allegation and said the hospital was famous as Escorts Heart Institute because of the team work that had gone into its making. “All of them have contributed and participated in the success and have earned a name around the world. In fact, I have deliberately diluted my own name and raised the institution as Escorts. So we’re all known as Escorts and not Trehans,” he said.
Trehan also alleged all charges against him were “desperate attempts to dig up muck.” He also denied the possibility of an Escorts and Medicity merger, but said the two could work together.
“Medicity is being built by contractors, not by me. We can work together. EHI’s legality is still in question, so there’s no question of merger. When Escorts becomes legal, I will be very happy to look into how we can share these things. Where’s the conflict of interest? There’s not a single word on that except some people have started figuring out is that because after 20 months you still couldn’t find an answer. I will be very happy to discuss the issue and associate with people outside. But they – in their frustration - chose to fire someone who has built the organisation, deliberately on a Friday afternoon and calling me out of the hospital for that,” he said.
Patient: The ultimate casualty
As the battle between two businessmen rages on, it’s the patient that’s caught in the crossfire and his centrality in the scheme of things is being ignored.
But is Trehan as a doc facing some kind of diminution from the patients, considering he is considered by many as the “God of heart surgery in India.”
Trehan admitted the dispute was hitting the patients hardest and that it was unfortunate that they are suffering because of certain “bad decisions.”
“Our work is a daily work. You are as good a syour laste operation. So we build our relationships with patients and their families on a daily basis. If they think they have dedictated yourself to their care and done the best in the world, they will continue to be a part of your life. It’s very sad that patients are being roughed around (sic). Who is gaining from patients being denied operations by me? They have come long distance, with prior appointments. It’s unimaginable suffering on their part,” he said.
However, Shivender Mohan Singh disagreed with all of Trehan’s arguments. He rubbished the claims that patients were suffering because of Trehan not being around and alleged the doctor had “planted” patients to misguide the media.
“How is it that every single patient you met says he won’t come to the hospital if it weren’t for Trehan? And isnpiste of that, any patient in the hospital doesn’t have a problem. The fact is that the patients you are meeting are all fabricated patients. Since yesterday there have been 200 people deployed by Dr Trehan to talk about what you are hearing. We aren’t fabricating news. We are talking business. Our patients don’t seem to be having a problem,” he said.
Trehan gets bad treatment
Some of Trehan’s supporters are miffed with the way India’s top surgeon has been treated at the hands of the management. They believe it’s an insult to his dignity as a physician to sack him in the way he was.
But Singh said it was not about Trehan being a doctor. It was more about him being a businessman, a shrewd one at that. “We don’t treat doctors, we treat patients in our hospital. And we are not talking about a doctor here. He (Trehan) happens to be a doctor. We are talking of a businessman who has a conflict of interest in the very organistaion that he has worked for. I think we are missing the point completely. The point is not about a doctor being sacked. It’s about sitting in an organisation, misappropriating funds, misusing opportunity to grow his own business,” Singh retorted.
Denying Escorts Heart institute was run as a business venture, Singh said it was a “socially responsible” organisation. “If we are running a business here, we are following every obligation that we’re being asked to follow. We have BPL patient section, we have a High Court order and we have been following it. We have about 10 per cent of our top line that goes into free and subsidised care. We haven’t changed a thing,” he said.
Singh also dared Trehan to not speak of charity. “The person who’s taking about charity needs to be asked the kind of salary he is drawing. How come he doesn’t believe in charity from home?” he said.
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