Sunil K Pandya: 1940–2024

Sunil Krishnalal Pandya, Neurosurgeon, Medical historian, Ethicist and Founding editor of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME), passed away on 17 December 2024, in Mumbai, of pulmonary fibrosis. The love he inspired was evident in the memorial meetings held online and in the KEM Hospital and elsewhere. His friends and colleagues were moved to tears as they spoke of him as an excellent and caring physician, a teacher, a friend and a rare man of principles.[1,2] SKP (as he was called by many) was born on 11 February 1940 in Mumbai (then Bombay). He completed his intermediary examination in science at Ismail Yusuf College in the suburb of Jogeshwari. In 1957, he joined the Grant Medical College, Mumbai, obtaining his MBBS in 1961. After completing a post-graduate degree in general surgery at GMC, he trained under the renowned Neurosurgeon Dr Gajendra Sinh before joining Dr HM Dastur’s Department of Neurosurgery in the Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai. At his class in GMC, he met and later married Shubhada Divekar who, after her medical training, would specialise in neurophysiology and focus on leprosy research and treatment. Doctors Sunil and Shubhada Pandya shared a passion for the history of medicine and of medical institutions in India, as well as a commitment to caring for the most vulnerable in our society. SKP also studied with Prof Valentine Logue at the Institute of Neurology in London, UK, but chose to come back to India and spend his peak working years at a public hospital here because of his commitment to the service of the poor. He was instrumental in making KEM’s Department of Neurosurgery one of the finest in the country, providing the best medical treatments to the thousands of patients who thronged its corridors every year. SKP’s detailed outpatient department and inpatient papers were the stuff of legend. Dr HM Dastur had devised a manual filing system of patient records which made it possible to locate decades-old records within a few minutes. SKP refined and took it one step further by giving the patient a carbon copy of their case notes for their use. He continued this system when he moved to private practice after retirement. SKP retired from KEM in 1998, as professor and head of the Department of Neurosurgery, and spent the next two and a half decades in the Department of Neurosurgery in Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai. The shift to private practice did not change his approach to his profession, and he continued to treat his patients with the same consideration and compassion. Nor did it change the way he lived his life. The Doctors Pandya did not own a car, and they either walked or took the bus everywhere. Ever conscious of the special responsibilities of a surgeon, as he grew older, SKP stopped operations while continuing his medical practice. After he was injured in a fall and underwent multiple spinal surgeries and a slow and painful recovery (he discussed his experiences as a patient in the IJME),[3] he cut back on his work. Eventually, he focused on his beloved books and writing. He spent more time on his daily E-mail correspondence with friends and colleagues globally, sharing articles that would be of particular interest to each of them. He continued writing until almost the very end. SKP was humble about his accomplishments, giving credit to many people for ingraining in him a scientific temperament and qualities such as meticulousness, humility and a commitment to patients. In addition to his mother, he wrote, his role models were his teachers – neurosurgeons and neurophysicians as well as specialists in other fields. He valued them not just as exemplary scientists but also as physicians who put patients’ well-being first. In turn, he did his part to pass on these values to his students. Perhaps, most important, he acknowledged the learning from poor patients in the government hospitals where he worked.[4] Recognising the importance of medical humanities in the training to be a good physician, he helped set up and develop the Dr Manu VL Kothari Chair and Division of Medical Humanities at Seth GS Medical College and was its first chairperson. All those who met SKP were struck by his willingness to speak his mind without fear or favour. Unlike most medical professionals, he did not hesitate to criticise his colleagues when they deserved it, although never in harsh language. Moreover, unlike most other government employees, he did not hesitate to point to dysfunctional health services. When many medical professionals shied away from discussions on medical ethics, or sneered at those who worried about informed consent, SKP joined a panel of doctors fighting the Maharashtra Medical Council elections on the platform of ethical practice. They lost but were not discouraged. In 1993, the group, which included students drawn to SKP for the value he placed on empathy as well as excellence, started the bulletin Medical Ethics. Today that bulletin is the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. IJME is now an internationally acclaimed publication due in no small part to its Founding Editor, Sunil Pandya. He stepped down as the editor of the journal at the end of 1998. As editor emeritus, he was always ready to advise or help, but only when asked. And when asked, he gave the most valuable support, including fund raising and of course making his financial contributions. He was a voracious reader on subjects that ranged from medicine, ethics, art and history, from William Osler to Richard Gordon, from the philosophy and history of science to lowbrow literature and everything else in between – one of the books I came across in his library was an ‘inquiry into the nature and origin of the passion of love’. Over the decade before his passing, he systematically disposed of his voluminous collection, with the bulk of his books now gracing the Janus Archives at Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai and the SL Bhatia Library at St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru. SKP was also a prolific writer, with varied interests. In addition to neurosurgery, he wrote on the history of medicine including Indian medicine and wrote a comprehensive history of his alma mater, GMC. Starting in 1992, he wrote a regular ‘Letter from Mumbai’ for the National Medical Journal of India. And of course, he wrote on ethics, a cause dear to him – on ethical challenges in healthcare, against unethical medical practices and research, on corruption in the Medical Council of India, and so on. IJME’s tribute to our Founding Editor contains a selection of his writings in the journal.[5] Few doctors would perhaps be able to apply the same scientific approach to themselves as they applied to their patients. In 2015, SKP wrote: As a neurosurgeon and as I approach ‘the last scene of all’, I view death as a final event and a logical termination of life. It holds no terror. Morality and ethics are to be welcomed in every act of every person on their values and not because of any benefit they may yield. I do not believe in an afterlife or rebirth. I may live on in the memories of a few after I am dead. I hope these memories are happy.[6] SKP was hospitalised in late 2024 but insisted on a discharge and requested palliative care. He passed on early in the morning of 17 December 2024, at home and with his family. Following his instructions, his body was donated to KEM Hospital for medical research. He leaves behind his wife, Dr Shubhada Pandya, his son Nirad, his daughter Anandi and his grandchildren. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.