New member spotlight: Dr Aseem Pradhan starting his global surgery mission from India.
This month, the InterSurgeon team spoke with Dr Aseem Pradhan, a neurosurgeon who is currently working as a freelance qualified neurosurgeon in Mumbai, India. He is making connections on InterSurgeon to; “find out what other people are doing in his field of expertise and improve my skills for a better understanding and a holistic approach towards the everchanging field of neurosurgery” .
The beginning
For the last 15 years, Dr Pradhan has been studying to qualify as a neurosurgeon in late 2023. In India, he came to the field of neurosurgery via completing his 3 years of general surgery training following a bachelors degree in medicine . He completed his super-specialty at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka; “in India, you can qualify in a super specialty like neurosurgery only after a bachelors degree and the general surgery or a direct 6 years course after the bachelors degree . You qualify after a highly competitive entrance exam and then go to a college. There are 2 types; private and medical colleges. The medical colleges, like the NHS, are at a subsidized rate and you have to have a bond with the government as they fund you.”
After college, Dr Pradhan went on to work as an assistant professor in Neurosurgery at Yenepoya medical college, Mangalore for one year. He spent time managing the ICU , Operating theatres , Emergencies , OPDS . He was as good as a head of department ; “I was working in lone practice. I got to do a lot of things I would not have been able to do in a larger setting. And learn a lot of tricks of the trade alone ” In October 2024, he returned to Mumbai to work as a a freelance neurosurgeon. These times did test his skills as well as patience . The outcomes were good and he was able to achieve things that people rarely get a chance to do so . Along with clinical work he was also involved in research and publications.
Back in Mumbai
Like many countries, India operates both a private and public system. Dr Pradhan says; “India is still developing as a nation. Most of the doctors are in the cities and no one wants to work in the countryside so the doctor to patient ratio varies greatly. People are in need of a good doctor who will treat them at a cost effective state .” Setting up a private practice can be challenging with lots of competition and surgeons working for longer and retiring later in life. When Dr Pradhan came back to Mumbai, he was covering a lot of smaller setups that were still in the early developmental phase for neurosurgery “My first case back in Mumbai, after being in Mangalore, was a patient with Hypertensive bleed and intraventricular haematoma who was steadily deteriorating because of raised intracranial pressure . This was my first day and first case and I needed to drain the ventricles externally. No one had done this before in this small ICU setting. I collected all the instruments I needed from nearby hospitals after a lot of telephonic conversations and then had to do the procedure in the ICU by the bedside . The OT was being fumigated at the time and staff were still under training . Sadly, the patient died after 7 days and this was very traumatising. There are other people facing the same [working] conditions or worse at the moment as everyone is interested in going towards a well-established practice at a higher centre.”
Moving to the global stage with InterSurgeon
In early 2024, Dr Pradhan was a happy to be accepted to the InterSurgeon platform as a member and made connections using the site with members in Japan and Burkino Faso; “I am using InterSurgeon to find out how other people are working, to increase my knowledge and help people”. He is happy to volunteer his time and his skills; “I would love to go somewhere like an LMIC for a year and I don’t mind if I don’t get paid. I would like to help surgeons set up a department and maybe a small academic institution where knowledge of general neurosurgery can be propagated ” At the moment, he is looking to share knowledge but does not have an institute of work where he can provide a reciprocal arrangement.
Dr Pradhan is starting his global surgery mission and ready to “help people really in need of Neurosurgeon for a better and positive outcomes .”
