Slate & chalk & TEST-tube babies
Ayesha Banerjee interviews Dr Indira Hinduja, fertility specialist.
Please tell us something about your background - what led you to medical science?
When I was a little girl I wanted to be a nurse and later, while growing up, I changed my mind and wanted to become a doctor. Till Class 
VI, I went to a municipal school in Belgaum, Karnataka where my family had moved from Pakistan. We are Bhaiband Sindhis, who used to be quite affluent and somewhat orthodox. My family thought education was essential so they ensured I studied. When I shifted to a private school, I was quite thrilled to be using the pen and notebook instead of the slate and chalk we used in the municipal school. I was a good student. Then, my family moved to Mumbai. Getting admission to a medical college was not difficult for me. I just told my brother, “bhaiya, let’s go get the applications”. Nobody in the family was aware of this, and when I got admitted everyone was very happy. My father went to the sari shop and asked them to give him the best sari, telling them ‘my daughter has got admitted to medical college’. I still have that saree preserved.
When did you realise you wanted to be a gynaecologist?
After I got my MBBS, I had very clear goals in mind. I knew I had to study further and kept asking people about new fields. First, I wanted to go for paediatrics but as time went by I realised gynaecology interested me more. Medical studies were not difficult at all. I had a single-point objective. I wanted to score the highest marks. It was during this time that I went to KEM College and found the library flooded with literature on the new IVF treatment. The more I read the more interested I was.
Was the research work difficult?
When we started, yes. I read up on the literature first, then learnt to handle the eggs, experimenting on animals first. We had to get permission from the Ethics Committee of the Institute for Research in Reproduction I was associated with to conduct experiments. The eggs were collected from female patients came in for sterilisation. Our experiments failed 17 times. Success happened at the 18th attempt — a strange coincidence because my birthday happens to be on December 18. We also didn’t have proper equipment. There was one small incubator from Baba Adam’s time and you had to keep calling the technician to repair it. Once he went for a movie and I had to go to the movie hall miles away from work and get him back because I was afraid the embryos would get destroyed.
I used to often sleep at the lab to ensure everything was in order. The women we collected the eggs from were all volunteers, including Mani Chawda, Harsha’s mother.
Once the lady I had to collect the eggs from said she hadn’t been taking the prescribed medication as she had no money. I rummaged in my bag and gave her everything I had – about Rs 200 — for the medication and walked home (miles away) as I didn’t have money for the bus tickets. Then Mani Chawda came to me. She had been unable to conceive and wanted a baby badly. She was the successful 18th attempt. Her pregnancy was confirmed on December 18, my birthday.
Author: HT Horizon
Date: 21st April, 2010
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