Global Nephrology- Indian Nephrology, the Chugh Oration

Prof. K.S. Chugh

I am in India attending the Indian Society of Nephrology Meetings in Hyderabad. My reason to be there is because I have been awarded the "Chugh Oration" by the society.

The city of Hyderabad is the capital city of the large southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It has fond memories for me because I spent 3 very enjoyable and memorable years growing up in Hyderabad – in the beautiful suburb of Banjara Hills. I attended Hyderabad Public School before moving back to England.

The Chugh Oration is the highest honor that is accorded by the Indian Society of Nephrology. It is a great honor for me to receive this recognition because of three reasons: first, because esteemed colleagues in the Indian Society of Nephrology – many of whom I admire greatly for their own contributions – have chosen to honor me; second, because I join a very prestigious list of previous honorees; and third, and perhaps the most important, because the recognition is in the name of Dr. Kirpal Chugh, who has spent his whole career at Postgraduate Institute in Chandigarh (PGIMER). Dr. Chugh is widely considered the “Father of Indian Nephrology”, someone I have known for nearly 20 years and who has been gracious, kind, and generous in all of his interactions with me.

Drs' Johny, Acharya, and Chugh

Nephrology in India has been fortunate to have had three outstanding leaders - KV Johny from CMC Vellore, Dr. V Acharya from KEM Hospital Mumbai, and Dr. KS Chugh from PGIMER who have collectively trained several hundred nephrologists, many of whom now practice in the United States. Like most leaders, they led by example -- Dr. Chugh was a leader in percutaneous kidney biopsies, in peritoneal and hemo-dialysis, and in transplantation. He led the formation of several societies, including the Indian Society of Nephrology among others, and the Indian Nephrology Journal. Dr. Johny introduced kidney transplantation to India and was a leader in the South, and Dr. Acharya beloved by her students for her clinical and teaching skills. As Peter Drucker is quoted saying: "Leadership is not magnetic personality, that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people", that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." I think this describes the leadership style of these giants of nephrology in India.

There are detailed articles in AJKD and the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine and the ISN's Legacy Project that I recommend for more details.

Always looking to the future, Dr. Chugh wrote in his AJKD article: “Predicting the future is a dangerous game; almost always, one is proved wrong. I can only make a wish that in the years to come, our younger generation of nephrologists will organize renal services in such a way that the benefits of modern nephrology are made available to all sections of the populations in India, rich or poor, urban or rural, male or female, and young or old. Special efforts need to be directed for the prevention of renal disease in populations at increased risk.”