Why Mumbai doctor Farokh Udwadia wrote a play to teach history-taking and bedside manners

Polymath doctor brings his work to Delhi to inspire junior doctors

Dr Farokh Udwadia (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

For years, Dr Farokh Udwadia has sat by the bedside of his patients at the intensive care unit (ICU) of Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital, holding hands, listening and talking to them. “That bond often wins battles because it is about the patient’s faith that the doctor will get him through and it is the doctor’s faith that the patient will use his will to fight back even when their body is broken,” says the 93-year-old doctor, who is known for his accurate diagnosis and relied upon by generations of patients.

The true art of medicine, he believes, has been submerged by the “hubris of technology.” It was precisely to revive the human touch, which he sees fast receding among corporatised young doctors today, that he presented his play ‘Oganga’ (The Healer), based on the life of his idol Dr Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965), at the Ambedkar International Centre in Delhi on April 18. The play, featuring Jim Sarbh and directed by Sooni Taraporewala, was a soliloquy on the conflict between ethics and progress and how the twain can meet.

Schweitzer, a polymath who gave up a successful life in Europe to treat patients in the jungles of Africa, epitomizes the kind of ethical dedication Dr Udwadia admires. “You don’t have to be an evangelist,” he says, “but India needs doctors who are committed to public health.” He still keeps Schweitzer’s photo in his consultation room.

A lesson for medicos

Somewhat of a polymath himself, he wrote the play during the lockdown over four months. He continues to write books on public health, plays Bach on his violin, paints, reads classical literature and gets inspired by Victor Hugo, Somerset Maugham and Rabindranath Tagore. But it’s the poetry of TS Eliot that he loves, quoting verses from The Wasteland impromptu. “He talks about finding purpose in the wreckage of despair and as men of medicine, we can find that purpose. I ask doctors to develop many interests as a knowledge of humanities makes a good physician,” says the doctor, who reaches his hospital everyday by 8.45 am for his rounds and finishes by 7 pm.

As his students mill around, he educates them about the drill of history-taking, a thorough physical examination and making a clinical diagnosis rather than depending on technology and tests. “If you take a decent history of the patient, then listen to him carefully about his discomfort, read the signs, you will know the path to take,” he says. Recalling a case from his early days at KEM Hospital, he tells of an obese patient who suffered seizures. No test revealed the cause until a careful conversation revealed he had used uncertified herbal supplements for a long time. The supplements were laced with arsenic, leading to arsenic encephalopathy. “It was clinical observation and inquiry that solved the mystery,” he says.

Dr Udwadia advocates for scientifically-backed medicine, including traditional and alternative therapies—so long as they’re tested for efficacy. “Nobody is against alternative medicine, but it must be empirically validated. That benefits everyone.”

Conventional methods can still work

Known to be a hard taskmaster of the basics, he insists how each hospital should keep an antibiogram, a study of bacteria in the laboratory and understanding how resistant it is to antibiotic medicines. As a critical care specialist, Dr Udwadia continues to study the mind-body effect, where the brain and body communicate through neural and hormone pathways. “Thoughts and emotions can trigger physiological responses like changes in heart rate, blood pressure, hormone release and immune function. If you look at the placebo effect of several clinical trials, you will find at least a small number of people getting better despite receiving an inactive treatment due to their belief in its effectiveness rather than its actual properties. This is something that as doctors we have to understand,” he says.

Like Schweitzer, Udwadia recommends music therapy in calming patient anxieties, citing how studies have proven that Mozart’s clarinet concerto in A Major K622 increased muscle strength in stroke patients while undergoing physiotherapy in hospitals.

Secret of longevity

Ramrod straight at 93, Dr Udwadia doesn’t use hospital lifts but climbs seven flights of stairs. He exercises thrice a week though he was a champion runner in his student years, breasting the winning tape in 500 m, 800 m and 5,000 m events. He has a frugal diet. “A bowl of porridge for breakfast, three small sandwiches and two tiny yellow bananas for lunch and boiled fish and vegetables for dinner. One scoop of ice cream though is my guilty pleasure. But then I have been moving my body since my youth,” he says.

Written by Rinku Ghosh Senior Editor who took Dr. Udwadia’s interview at the Taj Mansingh before the Lifetime Achievement Award Event.

https://indianexpress.com/article/health-wellness/dr-farokh-udwadia-bedside-manners-history-taking-best-medicine-9953149/

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A few photos from the event with Jim Sarbh in a memorable performance of Oganga at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre on 18th April 2025. It was organized by Parzor with Teamworks, Sponsored by Max Healthcare.