AIIMS to document works of Sushruta

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 13

The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here has launched a comprehensive research into the exact period when Sushruta, widely recognised as the “father of plastic surgery”, began conducting his medical procedures, the range of instruments he used and the expanse of reconstructive surgeries he performed.

The idea is to establish evidence of the existence of medical and surgical knowledge in India as far back as 600 BC, when Sushruta lived.

Lord Ganesha first to undergo surgery

It was from India that the science of surgery went all over the world. There is no doubt that Lord Ganesha was among the first in the mythology to undergo plastic surgery. — Dr Maneesh Singhal, AIIMS

Dr Maneesh Singhal, head of the department of plastic, reconstructive and burns surgery at AIIMS, is leading the project, for which the institute will be seeking grants from the government.

“We all know Sushruta is the father of plastic surgery. As far back as in 600 BC, he took India to the forefront of surgery. We are trying to find out all about Sushruta’s work and document it with evidence. Interestingly, we have found that the instruments Sushruta describes in his works exactly match with the metallurgy of his times. From 600 BC, Hippocrates and other physicians consumed Indian science and knowledge. It was from India that the science of surgery went all over the world. We are retracing our own steps,” Dr Singhal told The Tribune ahead of the National Plastic Surgery Day.

AIIMS, in collaboration with the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, will mark the day on July 15.

The institute, in a first, will showcase films documenting life-changing reconstructive procedures — from burns reconstruction to cancer reconstruction — which experts from across India have performed.

The festival is named “Sushruta” and its publicity material mentions that “ancient Indian surgeons performed nose jobs and skin grafts”.

On Lord Ganesha’s elephant head, the expert said there was no doubt that Lord Ganesha was among the first in the mythology to undergo plastic surgery.

“We cannot deny that. It is also too much of a coincidence that Lord Ganesha rode a mouse. Nearly 90 per cent of transplant surgery experiments at initial stages are conducted on mice,” Dr Singhal said echoing what PM Narendra Modi had said in 2014.