The Heart Has Two Chambers

Trehan stood his ground on the first two, forcing Fortis Healthcare to act on the third alternative. However, the way it went about it ended up drumming more support for the doctor than effect any dent in his image. Not only was Trehan sacked summarily, two of his trusted secretaries were thrown out of the hospital premises and another three women staffers were confined to a room, guarded by security personnel. The management even requisitioned the services of 300 security personnel and policemen. These included CRPF personnel—usually called in case of disasters or riotous situations—the local police and even the Delhi Armed Police. Vehicles were stopped at the main entrance and subjected to security checks.

"It was all done simultaneously," says an insider. "Fortis MD Shivinder Mohan Singh informed senior doctors and management personnel via e-mail that Dr Trehan's services had been terminated. The management did not realise the import and folly of what it had done. It did not contend with the fallout." Not only was there mayhem among Trehan's patients, the unwarranted security too did not go unnoticed. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna was summoned by both Sonia Gandhi and home minister Shivraj Patil to explain the deployment of security forces.

But there was more damage the management had done to itself. It went on to issue advertisements in national dailies trying to dissociate the doctor from the hospital. From saying that "the hospital was not anyone's fiefdom", it even alleged that Trehan personally conducted "very few surgeries". This strategy didn't work either.

Trehan himself took a philosophical view of the situation. He continued to work through the court and corporate battles, having conducted three surgeries even on May 24. "There is individual kismet," he said, "community kismet and the country's kismet. It is our country's bad fortune to be saddled with such problems when the focus should be on patients and healthcare," he told Outlook. In fact, it was the plight of the patients that Trehan said was affecting him the most. "I've given my last 25 years, my body and soul to this institute. We built it brick by brick. Only we know how we arranged the money, begged for it. I couldn't be there for my daughter's delivery, even missed her birthday party. We doctors have to be so dedicated. The management doesn't realise this."

Trehan described the entire drama to be as painful as divorce proceedings. "It is like a fight over a child's custody," he said. "Escorts is like my child. I am not giving up on it just like that."

On his part, Fortis MD Shivinder Mohan Singh maintained that "conflict of interest" remained the management's main quarrel with Trehan. That the latter should focus on a personal project was something the management could not brook. AnMBA in healthcare management from Duke University in the US, Singh said he had highest regard for Dr Trehan as a surgeon. "However, we do believe strongly that the institution is larger than any individual, no matter how great the individual be," he said.

Fortis Healthcare president Daljit Singh cited the example of Dr Devi Shetty, another renowned cardiologist, who had walked out of Manipal Foundation with several doctors to start his own institute in 2000. "The Manipal Foundation is still struggling from the impact. We did not want the same to happen to Escorts because Dr Trehan would have done the same with Medicity." But wouldn't sacking Trehan in fact help him do precisely that?