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Lessons of my life and times

2023; Medknow; Volume: 71; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4103/ijo.ijo_1368_23

1998-3689

S Chandrashekar Shetty,

Dietary Effects on Health

I was born in the year 1943 in a remote village called Sunnari of Kundapur Taluk in a Bunt family. My father Kapu Sanjiva Shetty, Kalavara was an agriculturist, and my mother Sunnari Parvathi Shetty, a homemaker. I am the eldest of ten siblings and was afflicted with whooping cough during my early childhood. My father was a principled man and a strict disciplinarian and wanted his son to grow up with high social and moral values. I used to visit my grandparents' home in Korgi during festivals and school holidays. Joint families of bunts were known for cockfighting, playing cards, and drinking country liquor. Those days, my father was always apprehensive about his son being influenced by the bad environment and used to summon me back amid a vacation, but that did not deter me from casual social drinking and playing cards with family and friends in the later part of my life. I imbibed the culture of respecting elders, irrespective of their caste, creed, or status. Sports have been an inseparable part of my life and have likely inculcated the steadfast qualities of constant competition with the self to become better with every stroke, realization of the power of teamwork, and an overall positive spirit to take life sportingly each day at a time and do well to the best of your ability. I studied in Elementary School, Kalavara up to fourth standard, at Hindu Girls School, Byndoor, in fifth standard, and at the Higher Elementary School, Kapu, in sixth and seventh standards, where my father's elder brother Kapu Bhojaraja Shetty was the Head Master. I acquired social values from my father and moral values from my uncle Bhojaraja Shetty. I was the chief guest at the centenary celebration of my elementary school, Kalavara in February 2023. I used to walk 7 miles every day to complete my high school at Koteshwar High School, which taught in the Kannada language. I had the distinction of scoring the highest marks in Kannada in my class XI examination in 1959. I represented my high school in ball badminton and our school was South Kanara District champion in 1958. I was the slow cycle race champion in my high school. I joined the prestigious St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, to pursue my pre-university course in the year 1959. I was down with typhoid for 3 months and ended up taking all other subjects except physics, chemistry, and biology in the final examination, thereby losing one year of my precious period of education. I am gratefully indebted to Father Monteiro, Principal of St. Aloysius College, for arranging special classes for me. I joined Mysore Medical College in the year 1961 and the pre-professional courses (PPC) were conducted at Yuvaraja's College, Mysore. My PPC Examination result was withheld by the University of Mysore due to non-payment of the hostel mess bill - a small amount of Rs. 15. I rushed to the university with the "No Dues Certificate" and met with the then Controller of Examinations, Sri Anagol, IAS. He opened the big book of marks list and declared, "Young man, you passed in first class." I jumped with joy and was greatly relieved. I used to miss a few Physiology classes to watch cricket matches at the college. This resulted in my failure in the practical examination. I got through with the grace marks rule of the university. The result was announced in the last week of April 1964 and I missed all of the intensive clinical training. However, I utilized that interim period for practicing shuttle badminton with my friend and classmate Bishnulal Joshi from Nepal and both of us represented the University of Mysore in 1964. I won five out of six shields in the annual sports meet of the university in 1965. I won my inter-university singles match against Kerala University in 1966. I used to miss too many classes due to badminton tournaments and failed once in pathology and once in surgery clinical examination in 1966. There was an offer to change my batch in which one of my relatives was the examiner. I declined the offer on ethical grounds. I have paid the price for my love for sports and the lessons learned have been profound. Professional Career I started my career as Lecturer, Ophthalmology, at Karnataka Medical College, Hubli, in 1968 and acquired a diploma in ophthalmology (DO) in 1971. I learned the art of ophthalmology from Dr. K. Subramanian and its techniques from Dr. M. M. Joshi. I was the assistant warden for the men's hostel and chairman for sports and brought revolutionary changes in the next 8 years, to the liking of students. My initiative of preparing a sports ground inside the campus resulted in creating an athletic champion from Karnataka University. I was a member of the selection committee for badminton at Karnataka University. I had the honor of partnering with Dr. N. M. Srinivas, a former Karnataka state champion in lawn tennis, and won a state-level doubles championship in Gadag. I was transferred to Mysore Medical College in 1977 and promoted to Professor of Ophthalmology in 1981. The period of Dr. C. R. Thirumalachar and myself in Mysore Medical College was supposed to be an inspiration and motivation for students to take up ophthalmology as a preferred specialty. I attended the retinal workshop conducted by Dr. Peter Lever and Dr. David McLeod of Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, at Gandhi Eye Hospital, Aligarh, in 1974. This kindled my interest in the subspecialty of the retina. I was awarded a WHO fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, in 1982. I was transferred to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO), Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, Bangalore, in 1984. The rest is history. I took the sole responsibility of transforming RIO into a leading eye care institute in the country. A separate retina block was built, subspecialty clinics were established with the most advanced ophthalmic equipment, structured teaching and training programs were conducted, high-quality ophthalmic treatment was offered, and a large number of presentations were made in state and national ophthalmic conferences. The onerous task for me was to follow the files in government departments relentlessly, year after year for 15 years. I had the pleasure of raising funds from public enterprises, the banking sector, non-governmental organizations, and private individuals for procuring equipment and augmenting subspecialty services. I had further retinal training at the Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1987 and the Sydney Eye Hospital and Eye and Ear Infirmary, Melbourne, Australia, in 1990. The greatest honor for me was in organizing the centenary celebration of Minto Ophthalmic Hospital in 1998. Very eminent ophthalmologists from India and abroad were felicitated and honored at this occasion. My contribution to the rapid growth and development of Minto Ophthalmic Hospital catapulted me to the exalted position of vice chancellor at Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, in 1999. The university made revolutionary changes in curriculum design and development, examination reforms, faculty development programs, digitization, institutional social responsibility through NSS programs, and internationalization. The greatest satisfaction for me was regularizing the services of 65+ temporary employees. I was able to perform my duties with sincerity, honesty, and accountability within the framework of the act, statutes, regulations, and rules of the university despite facing pressure from the highest lawmaker and administrative head of the government. I had the courage and conviction to request the honorable chief minister not to sanction medical and dental colleges in large numbers at one go by compromising the quality of medical and dental education. That was probably one of the reasons for not getting the second term as vice chancellor. Later on, I became the first vice chancellor of Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research (a deemed university), Kolar, from 2007 to 2012 and the first vice chancellor of Adichunchanagiri University, BG Nagara, from 2018 to 2022. My association with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) as an assessor, chairperson of the peer team, and chairperson and member of the design and development of NAAC manuals for health science institutions, all of which lasted two decades, has been a great learning experience for quality assurance, sustenance, and enhancement of higher education institutions in India. I was the vice chairman of the Indian Red Cross Society in Karnataka (from 2005 to 2007) and collected 3.5 crore for post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Sri Lanka. As the first technical advisor for south India and Sri Lanka in 1991 for the Lions Clubs International Foundation's SightFirst program, I implemented over 125 eye care projects worth more than 24 million USD and benefitting one million patients in 30 years. I always believed in the phrase, "The most you give to the world the most will come back to you." I have been the recipient of many state, national, and international orations, awards, and recognitions [Figs. 1–3], but the appreciation, love, and affection I have received from students, patients, colleagues, friends, well-wishers, and family members have been more gratifying.Figure 1: Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) and OSMU Gold Medal from Odessa State Medical University, Ukraine on April 25, 2002Figure 2: Honorary Doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka, India on March 24, 2013Figure 3: Life Time Achievement Award- 2020 from All India Ophthalmological Society, Conferred on June 24, 2021Conclusion In the last 55 years of my professional life, I have worked with great clarity of mind, purity of heart, dexterity of hand, passion, compassion, sincerity, honesty of purpose, truthfulness, righteousness, and courage of conviction. God has been extremely kind in making me a medical doctor, a medical teacher, a public servant, and a volunteer. I have been truly blessed. Every moment of my life has been worth living.