In the middle of the night, a man with blood covered face and broken nose , screaming with pain came to see this old doctor. The old doctor made the man to lie down on floor and gave him Grape Juice before treating with any medical procedures. This was the man who used Grape Juice as anesthesia before performing the medical procedures and was the first to use Anesthesia. Who else it could be other than Sushruta, the great Indian Surgeon!
Sushruta , an ancient indian surgeon gives immense pride for every Indian with his numerous and unmatched achievements in the field of Indian Medicine. Sushruta is known to be the first to introduce Caesarian surgery, first to perform infectionless medical procedures, first anesthetist, first individual to have described and performed Plastic Surgery and probably many more such firsts which we might not even know.
Unfortunately, very little is known about the history of Sushruta as there is no conclusive answer on his time line and family background. There are stories which say that he was son of sage Vishwamitra. There are references that say that he was referred by Panini, great Sanskrit scholar whose time was 700 BC which means Sushruta was prior to Panini and lived in Kashi, Varanasi.
His renowned book Sushruta Samhita contains 184 chapters, description of 1120 types of illness, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources.
Sushruta believed that knowledge of both surgery and medicine are essential to constitute a good doctor who otherwise “is like a bird with only one wing.”
Truly , he is the father of Indian Surgery
No comments:
Post a Comment