Beauty is in the hands of the maker
Meera Balachander

Instead of worshipping idols of God created by human beings, serve the humans created by this God; give joy to others while enduring adversities alone is his mantra.

Two and a half-year-old Raunit is howling as if in a nightmare. With his body held down tightly on the bed by four pairs of hands, he looks around in despair, hoping his mother will come and rescue him. A reassuring hand ruffles his hair and softly strokes his forehead. Suddenly howling ends; the child is as if in a deep trance.

The anesthesia has done the work. Within minutes, with clockwork precision, Raunit's left eye is pried open and held in place and a nimble pair of hands set out to correct the squint.

This is the moment I had dreamt of ever since I had read about Dr. Dicksheet last year. I lost no time in establishing contact with him. And now, this unusual doctor on a wheelchair with the magic touch and the magnanimous heart had actually invited me to witness his work -by now famous through numerous features and articles. Donning the green operation theatre uniform, I am by his side, feeling a little faint at the sight of blood flowing. The team of nurses and assistants continue their work unmindful, brisk. A few deft sutures, another pat on the child's forehead and the doctor signals to say it's over -may I see the next one please? A beautiful 9 year old girl with just an extra bump near the bridge of the nose arrives. This time the surgery takes a little longer while the doctor prods and pushes the nose into shape, appraising his work, every few minutes, not unlike a sculptor. He is finally satisfied with his art and the new nose is neatly packed in bandages. In the waiting room an anxious young husband of two years has brought his wife for a nose correction. There is anticipation in his eyes as he says he read about the good doctor's camp and decided to get a bonus for himself in the form of a handsome nose for his wife!
In the few minutes between the wheeling out of one patient and the entry of the next, the doctor, with his eyes shut, listens to the bhajans that flow non-stop from a tape recorder. He is completely engrossed in the Shiv Sthutis. Lunch is a banana and a glass of milk. Except for the intense sway to the devotional music, the doctor is expressionless. In a different setting, he could be an ascetic, someone far removed from the hub of wordly tears and travails.

Dr. Sharad Dicksheet is however, anyone but that. An accomplished plastic/cosmetic/reconstructive surgeon based in New York, his conviction is hardly cosmetic. Dr. Dicksheet's India Project is the lifelong mission of one man who believes in giving acceptance and dignified normalcy to as many as possible -his preferred group being infants and children with facial deformities such as cleft lip/ palate or a squint, pstosis and other aberrations of nature. A cleft lip may sound trivial compared to a congenital heart deficiency and a 15 minute surgical procedure may pale before a five-hour surgery. But, for a child born so, this is a life threatening situation for he is unable to suck milk from the mother's breast -and thus deprived of his main nutritional source, he may die of malnutrition, or secondary infection. The danger of choking or suffocating over milk is also great. These children are often abandoned in dustbins, churches or temples. In India the incidence of cleft lip is 1 in every 400 live births -that adds upto 75,000 babies each year, ofwhich only 20% receive corrective surgery, the cost of which could range from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 50,000. India has the largest number of untreated cleft lip patients in the world. Young boys and girls with deformities don't find employment or even life partners. A correction later,

they are reborn. Seen in this light, the significance of India Project is phenomenal as an opportunity to fully integrate these otherwise condemned human lives.

Dr. Dicksheet launched this project in 1968 and it has brought succour to more than 56,000 patients totally -free of cost and without the loss of a single life. This project now runs in collaboration with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons Educational Trust. Each year, from October to March, Dr. Dicksheet travels to extremely remote regions in India and conducts free plastic surgery camps in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam. He has trained surgeons to continue his work after his death. In 1989, he recruited three resident plastic surgeons from the United States to volunteer their skills for one week at a time, in one of the big city camps. Today, Dr. Dicksheet is regularly accompanied by a small group of plastic surgeons from the United States and the number of committed surgeons has increased with time. These camps also serve as classrooms for local plastic surgeons who are welcomed with open arms for training and observation. Each day forty to sixty surgeries are performed of which seven to ten are done by the volunteer surgeons. While Dr. Dicksheet brings in the latest and safest medical equipment available, a number of companies, organisations and philanthropic trusts complement the expenditure by providing the medicines and generally by organising the camps. The Trust established by Dr. Dicksheet will continue this work after his death while the Plastic Surgery.

Educational Foundation of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons will receive a portion of the assets from his trust in order to continue his work. This meticulous planning and execution suggests either a tradition handed over, or a team dream. However, India Project is neither. It is the fruition of a dream of a son of the soil, wanting to share his abundant knowledge and love, with his countrymen. The bhajans are a constant reminder that the free camps are a thanksgiving to God. What depth of indebtedness can make a man travel this far? The saga just begins...

Born in Pandharpur on December 13, 1930, Dr. Dicksheet was a brilliant student throughout his academic years, graduating in medicine from the Government Medical College, Nagpur in 1956. He left for the USA in 1958 and specialised in surgery and then plastic surgery. During his years abroad, Dr. Dicksheet made his mark in more than one place: London, Ireland, Fairbanks, Alaska, New York. He was in the Manhattan Eye- Ear-Nose and Throat hospital in New York and in Trudy Vogt in Zurich, Switzerland. After retirement, With his team of doctors at a camp

Dr. Dicksheet spends most of his time reading medical journals, listening to music, especially bhajans and classical music. He is an efficient fund raiser too, using his skills for many causes.
That is not the sum of Dr. Dicksheet's achievement. A Bachelor of Music (Sangeet Visharad) in Hindustani classical music from the prestigious Bhatkhande University in 1943, Dr. Dicksheet's musical career ran parallel to his academic brilliance, winning several competitions and singing for AIR at Nagpur and Hyderabad from 1948-58. Dr.Dicksheet was a passionate sportsperson too. From being part of the high school cricket team, he went on to play badminton, tennis and later tried snow and water skiing and flying.

Was all this passion too much to be rolled into one personality?

In 1978, a serious car accident left the right side of Dr. Dicksheet's body paralysed. He managed to recuperate within three years with intense physiotherapy and boundless will power. Nothing really stopped him. Dr. Dicksheet learned to use his left hand for surgery with stunningly effective results. He is among the rare category of ambidextrous surgeons in the world. Four years later, he was diagnosed with stage IV cancer of the larynx. He underwent four major operations followed by radiation therapy and was given a life expectancy of only two years! I cannot imagine the emotional turmoil and hopelessness that such a death warrant should cause in a person already tried and tested once -but true to his tungsten strong will power - Dr. Dicksheet decided to make the most of what he was offered and learned oesophageal speech techniques. This technique consists of learning to swallow air into the food pipe and bringing it up to produce speech. Dr. Dicksheet's speech is quasi normal except for being very soft which cannot be helped. In 1988 Dr. Dicksheet had his first heart attack followed by angioplasty. Then in 1994, during one of the free camps, he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent a triple bypass surgery. The operation did not improve his cardiac performance and even today, his heart functions at only 18% of its capacity.

Since it is practically non-existent in our country, does Dr. Dicksheet find the lack of physical accessibility in India disabling? For a person who lives in an environment which provides the best conditions possible in terms of accessibility, doesn't having to be lifted, sometimes even two flights of stairs to an operation theatre, mean indignity and a breach of independence? Questions like these flood my mind. Dr. Dicksheet's answers are all at once heart warming, reassuring and practical. He says India's accessibility is of a different kind: manpower and interdependence, the willingness to help each other out, which is in no way inferior to the sleek accessibility of the west.

We at ABILITY are curious to know what Dr. Dicksheet, who is familiar with both worlds, thinks about the conditions of work here as compared to the western world. Dr. Dicksheet feels there is no qualitative difference if one sets out with enthusiasm, trust and an open mind. Of course quality control is a must. For him the phrase "work is worship" is more than a much-used cliche; it symbolises his utter devotion to his work, especially for young children. Instead of worshipping idols of God created by human beings, serve the humans created by this God; give joy to others while enduring adversities alone is his mantra. A credo which has taken him to the greatest heights of achievement possible.

Source: Success and Ability, Volume 7 No. 1
Issue: Dated Jan-Mar 2002