Dr. Kishor Taori died today. A rare neurological illness—detected barely a year ago—took his breath away.
Kishor led the Department of Radiology, GMC, Nagpur; chaired the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) and presided over the Indian Radiology and Imaging Association. He would have completed 60, on 27 September.
Kishor belonged to the class of 1974, GMC, Nagpur. Although he grew up in Ghuikhed, a village 46 km south of Amravati in Maharashtra, he toiled to reach heights that he was justifiably proud of.
Kishore became the president of the Maharashtra Medical Council in 2009. A strict disciplinarian and stickler for the rules, he took several decisions during his MMC days to bring erring doctors to book. He worked hard to weed out unethical practices among medical practitioners in Maharashtra. He didn’t hesitate to turn the heat on College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPS), a 101-yr-old institution, issuing it a show-cause notice asking why it should not be derecognised, because according to him, CPS followed “sub-standard process of admission and examination”. He also exposed the fake degree racket, disqualified doctors with distance learning degrees and took names off the register of doctors found signing blank reports.
He was also extremely passionate when it came to turning around the Maharashtra Medical Council from rags to riches, helping it acquire “from meek to mighty” reputation. Dr. Vedprakash Mishra—Kishor was a younger brother to him— had tears welled up in his eyes when he said, “He was always a man in a hurry and had an extraordinary ability to push his colleagues to the limits without going over the edge. “Frank and fearless, he never passed the buck to his staff and brought off an entrepreneur’s energy to design and develop institutions—almost from a scratch.”
Known for taking tough stands against illegal and unethical practices, he was courageous enough to take on the government and fight for what he thought was a just cause, although he was a government employee. He fought—and won— a long legal battle with the state government which was bent on seeing him off the MMC chair. This year, he started MMC awards—recognizing the innovative and out-of-box work of the doctors—and also launched a “Care with Concern” scheme that assured a sum of Rs 3 lakhs to the beneficiary following the accidental death of a doctor.
Ironically, the very body he was the president of—MMC—was scrapped by the state government just three days before he passed away.
Kishor was also a member of the Medical Council of India (MCI) besides being on the management council of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).
Kishor took a special interest in developing the department of Radiology in his alma mater. “It is an honour and privilege to serve as the department head in the very alma mater, which helped me acquire and hone my radiology skills,” he used to say. He brought cutting-edge diagnostic imaging equipment to GMC Nagpur—the first medical college to acquire a digital radiography—that made his department the most sought-after department for Radiology residency in Maharashtra. In the late seventies, he opted for Radiology at a time when students were reluctant to sign up for this discipline. Radiology at GMC Nagpur has come a long way, since and Kishor played a key role in the metamorphosis of the department— replacing the dark, dripping rooms with the brightly-lit scintillating stations, showcasing innovative technology that was to impact the way the doctors think, diagnose and care for their patients.
Those who knew Kishor—and were fortunate enough to be associated with him—shall miss him not because he was the department head or because of the powers that he wielded in the corridors of power, or because of his extensive networking. But the reason most people would miss him is his self-effacing personality and a unique ability to help people without letting them realise that they were being helped. Once he said to me, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” He always believed that the best way to build a great network is to give help to others first with no expectation of reward.
Many might not know that Kishor began his career at MGIMS—he was a senior resident in Radiology at MGIMS in the early eighties. And, then he worked hard to rapidly climb the rungs of the academic ladder, and make a name for himself in the department, the university, the medical council and the national association.
Rest in peace, Kishor! Your silhouette would continue to cast its shadow in the department of Radiology.
