Doctors at large
Deepti Laroia

In the Pink of Wealth
by Sumit Ghoshal. Frog Books. Pages 161. Rs 180.

Writing about the lives of doctors is fairly popular with authors and movie and tele-serial makers. But often the only thing medical about such writing is the fact that the protagonists wear stainless white coats and hang the mandatory stethoscope round their necks to create the ‘doctor effect’. Though once in a while they do remember to pay a visit to their wards, yet primarily the plot revolves around their private affairs, intrigues, scandals, et. al. However, In the Pink of Wealth offers a pleasant respite, where the doctor-turned-writer, Sumit Ghoshal, who has several years of experience in full time journalism as well, brings us face-to-face with the real world of doctors.

Gopalji Damji Charitable Hospital, which provides the backdrop against which the novel is set, is run by a board of eight trustees headed by Madhavji Shah, a rich Gujarati seth. The book opens with a decision of the management of G.D. Hospital to quietly terminate the contracts of 14 of their senior-most doctors, on account of low contributions to the trust’s exchequer. But the real turning point occurs when another trustee, Prashant Kadakia, leaks this top secret to Yogesh, a journalist in a leading newspaper agency in Mumbai. The news soon spreads like wildfire. This, coupled with legal notices from some of the sacked doctors, a consumer court notice from Yogesh for the death of his father due to an act of medical negligence and a strategically timed workers’ strike, turns the entire administration of the hospital topsy-turvy.

But the interesting bit is that Prashant Kadakia has done this out of no genuine concern for anyone. He has vested interests as he yearns to take over control of the hospital. And this he cannot accomplish this unless he proves the existing administration and chief trustee inefficient, ineffective and incompetent.

Thus, Ghoshal takes the reader through Kadakia’s selfish and meticulously chalked out plan which he strives to accomplish with the connivance of the union leader and the top management team. Right at the outset, tension is built as one races through the narrative to find out as to what lies in store for the G.D. Hospital, its doctors and patients.

Around this central plot are intricately interwoven parallel stories and subplots which give one a glimpse into the lives of doctors of the hospital. The characters are deftly etched and closely resemble real-life doctors as they spout medical jargon. Minute descriptions of case details also make the proceedings seem real. Ghoshal has managed to brilliantly capture the sensitive yet distanced attitude of doctors as they watch patients come and ‘go’, while they go on and on in their relentless battle against death.

On the whole, the novelist has painted a rich portrait of the intricacies of the medical profession — of not just doctors handling patients along with professional pressures but also of the insensitive management of hospitals which cares for nothing more than its name, fame and profit.

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