MUMBAI: Professionalism, humanity and need of the hour can make a human being go beyond the line. But on the other hand, a fraction of inconsistency may dilute the bravery and turn it into a debate. In a recent such occurrence CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta assisted surgeons by performing craniotomy on a young victim at Bir Hospital while reporting from Nepal which was stuck by earthquake.
The natural calamity took many lives. Amidst that, as per Dr Gupta, there was a small kid who needed immediate medical attention and that’s when he volunteered and effectively saved her life.
Post this, CNN went on to showing images of an eight year old girl in Nepal claiming her to be the one medically operated by Dr Gupta. But later on, a flurry of reports came in that questioned the claims of CNN. Reports state that the girl shown in the clip, underwent no surgery, which thus questions the integrity of CNN’s reporting.
Explaining the scenario Dr Gupta asserted, “We want to get these things 100 per cent right. It’s important, obviously, to the viewers. It’s important to the families, you know, who are there undergoing this, suffering through the aftermath of the earthquake.”
CNN, later released an official statement saying, “Journalism is not brain surgery, but brain surgery is brain surgery. We are proud that Sanjay is one of the few reporters in Nepal to cover the earthquake, and while there, he was asked to help save a young victim’s life. As we reported, he assisted the surgeons at Bir Hospital by performing a craniotomy on a young victim. While some reporting suggests that the girl in the clip wasn’t operated, we at the time of our reporting believed her to be. We will try to verify that. Regardless, Sanjay spent a week in Nepal, helped save a young life in the operating room, and we couldn’t be more proud of him. He has our full and unequivocal support.”
Gupta is a practicing neurosurgeon as well as a medical correspondent.
