FEU

At a lecture in Grant Medical College in Mumbai, in the mid 80's, a professor walked into the room, leading a patient by her hand. While the students wondered what this was leading to and why the professor was wasting time when he had hordes of other things to do, slowly they realised the point that their teacher was trying to make.

This young woman in her mid-20's was the first patient with HIV/AIDS at J J Hospital and among the first few cases in India, the professor was Dr Farokh Erach Udwadia - better known among students as FEU. ``By holding her hand, he taught us a lesson in compassion that most of us would never forget,'' said Dr Sanjay Pai, who was then an undergraduate student at GMC. ``No amount of theory can replace the sight of your professor walking hand in hand with an HIV/AIDS patient,'' he added.

That was not the only lesson Dr Pai, now a Consultant Pathologist at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore, learnt that day. ``Earlier in the day, when I and a friend were waiting for the lift on the ground floor, we saw the professor dash past us and charge up the stairs to the seminar hall on the sixth floor. As we sheepishly followed him, he taught me two other lessons - never be late for a meeting.'' The other lesson was delivered as Pai read FEU's article in the Journal of Clinical Pathology years later: ``lifts are for wimps.''

These are just some of the memories that students carry of FEU, undoubtedly one of the best if not `the' best doctor Bombay has. `When you don't know what you are suffering from, go to Udwadia' is the common line used by patients and doctors alike. People from all over come to him when others cannot identify the problem - his diagnoses are said to be the most accurate not just in the city but also the country. The man himself prefers to keep out of the spotlight and positively shuns the media. Consultant Physician and in charge of the Intensive Care Unit in Breach Candy Hospital, strict instructions are given even to family members and hospital authorities not to divulge any statements about him.

The 1987 Padma Bhushan Awardee has researched, published papers and books on a wide variety of topics including tropical eosinophilia, respiratory care, tetanus, rabies and problems pertaining to critical care in developing countries and is on the scientific advisory board of the Indian Council of Medical Research. While he has a huge list of high profile cases - former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's knee replacement surgeries in 2000 and 2001, Amitabh Bachchan's intestinal surgery in 1982 to name just a few, Udwadia's less well known patients feel that he treats them with as much respect and compassion as anyone else. Ajeet Doshi (59) with no history of previous illness suddenly developed terrible backache. ``We immediately rushed to Breach Candy hospital and Dr Udwadia diagnosed me in 48 hours, though it was a difficult case. But he told me that I had to stop my smoking habit or else he would simply not treat me. I was a chain smoker - smoking 40 ciggaretes a day - but from that day, I gave up,'' he said.

Dr Jagdish Chinappa, Consultant Paediatrician, also a student of FEU said, ``What I learnt most from Farukh sahab was the way he dealt with patients - he was extremely meticulous in his clinical evaluation but also extremely compassionate. The amount of time he would spend with each patient, getting to know their full history, the way he would take the information out, in his humility - he stood alone.'' The last time Chinappa met his teacher was however, ironically, when he himself took ill. ``I had frequented most doctors in Bangalore and Mumbai, but nobody could tell me what was wrong. Finally I went to Farukh sahab.'' And that, as anybody would tell you, was the end of his search.