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WORK TITLE: The Surgeon’s Knot
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Mumbai
STATE:
COUNTRY: India
NATIONALITY: Indian
Phone: +91 22 2445 2439
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in India; married; children: a daughter.
EDUCATION:Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India, MB.BS., 1972; Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh, FRCS, 1990.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Seth GS Medical College and KES Hospital, Mumbai, India, 1996-2001. Has been been the professor and head of gastroenterological surgery at BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India, and dean of Lokmanya Tilak Medical College and Hospital, Mumbai, India.
WRITINGS
Has contributed articles to medical journals.
SIDELIGHTS
Rajendra Shirahatti took degrees in medicine and surgery, studying in his native India and in Edinburgh, Scotland. He went on to practice as a surgeon and also taught and was head of gastroenterological surgery at BYL Nair Hospital and dean of Lokmanya Tilak Medical College and Hospital and Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai, India.
In 2017, Shirahatti released The Surgeon’s Knot, a memoir that follows his early career as a surgical resident in an overcrowded government hospital in India beginning in the 1970s. He recounts stories of his patients and colleagues and the lessons he learned on his path. Becoming a surgeon, he came to find out, is much more than mastering technique. He also had to learn to engage patients in dire circumstances and either cure them or ease their suffering at the end of their lives. The book is alive with characters as diverse as the transgender who gives blood to save a child’s life, a man suspected of child rape, the don of a crime family, along with Shirahatti’s colleagues Sister Georgina Thomas and Dr. Praful Joshi. A contributor to the book’s website commented that it “will bring a sense of déjà vu to senior doctors” and that “aspiring surgeons will find it interesting and, hopefully, inspiring.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor called The Surgeon’s Knot a “charming, well-crafted” memoir that “presents surgery from an appealingly irreverent point of view that calls to mind larger questions about how significant, solid, or indispensable any of us really are.”
BIOCRIT
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (November 15, 2017), review of The Surgeon’s Knot.
Surgeon’s Knot Website, http://www.thesurgeonssojourn.com (March 20, 2018).
About the Author
Dr. Rajendra Shirahatti is a graduate from the Armed Forces Medical College. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He was a Commonwealth Fellow. Dr Shirahatti is a successful Surgeon who has worn several hats. He has been the Professor and Head of the GI Surgery at BYL Nair Hospital, Dean of The Lokmanya Tilak Medical College and hospital and Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital. His journey takes you through the time when he joined the Armed Forces Medical College as an immature callow youth to becoming a Resident, Consultant, Professor and Dean.
Dr Rajendra Shirahatti
Professor & Chairman of Department at University
University Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh
Mumbai Area, India 17 17 connections
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Highly motivated thinker/achiever with extensive experience in clinical, teaching and administration in Medical Education. Has " Will Do" attitude and capable of thinking out of the box. Interested in nurturing StartUps in Medical Education and Hospitals.
Specialties: Gastrointestinal Surgery
Medical Simulation
Innovations in Medical Education
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Experience
University
Professor & Chairman of Department
Company NameUniversity
KEM Hospital
Dean
Company NameKEM Hospital
Dates EmployedFeb 1996 – Jul 2001 Employment Duration5 yrs 6 mos
Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital
Dean
Company NameSeth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital
Dates EmployedFeb 1996 – Jun 2001 Employment Duration5 yrs 5 mos
Education
Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh
Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh
Degree NameFRCS Field Of StudySurgery
Dates attended or expected graduation 1989 – 1990
Armed Forces Medical College
Armed Forces Medical College
Degree NameMBBS Field Of StudyMedicine
Dates attended or expected graduation 1968 – 1972
Shirahatti, Rajendra: THE SURGEON'S KNOT
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 15, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Shirahatti, Rajendra THE SURGEON'S KNOT PartridgeIndia (Indie Nonfiction) $None 3, 28 ISBN: 978-1-4828-8923-9
Shirahatti recounts tales from his career as a Mumbai, India-based surgeon in the mid-1970s in this debut memoir.
When the author showed up on his first day as a surgical house officer at Mumbai's Sion Hospital, he had no idea what lay in store for him. The personalities among his colleagues were big and numerous: Dr. Praful "the Prof" Joshi, who "chew[ed] iron nails and residents for breakfast"; Sister Georgina Thomas, a nurse who loved patients and hated new residents; the triage-obsessed Dr. Vilas; and the wisecracking resident Prakash. In the surgical ward, members of all classes of Mumbai society cycled in and out in an endless dance of life and death. The author was forced to shed many preconceived notions of what it meant to administer aid while simultaneously opening himself up to the rawness of humanity in its many forms. (The author would quickly be nicknamed "Guru" by his colleagues for his "expert advice.") Once, he writes, he was nearly stabbed by a gang member for not administering to a dead man; another time, he sewed up a suspected rapist despite the anger of a mob. At one point, he writes, a colleague said that a patient was "waiting for the train to Guntakal"--a euphemism for being on one's deathbed ("Who would want to go there?" asked Prakash). Throughout this memoir, Shirahatti writes in the formal yet easily readable prose of an experienced raconteur, which highlights the wryness and frequently dark humor of some stories. The lighter moments are offset by moments of probity, and the sincere affection that Shirahatti has for his colleagues is apparent. At fewer than 150 pages, the book makes a quick read. This works in its favor, as does its setting--the Mumbai of an earlier era--which will be unfamiliar to many readers. Although this book is not quite at the level of Richard Hooker (of MASH fame), Shirahatti presents surgery from an appealingly irreverent point of view that calls to mind larger questions about how significant, solid, or indispensable any
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of us really are.
A charming, well-crafted memoir of an Indian doctor.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Shirahatti, Rajendra: THE SURGEON'S KNOT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514267690/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=554a942e. Accessed 27 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514267690
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