Photo © Dr Natarajan Manimozhi,
Medical Co-ordinator, AIFO



The message on my mobile phone was brief and tersely worded – ‘Dr Fritschi: expired in Vellore. Funeral details will follow’. The words took me twenty-five years back in time – to a rural hospital in Tamil Nadu, 200 kilometres from Madras. I had just joined The Leprosy Mission Hospital at Vadathorasalur, and my first encounter with Dr Ernst P Fritschi, was when I travelled to Karigiri to report to him.

Dr Fritschi was an eminent surgeon and teacher in the field of leprosy. He had worked in Tamil Nadu in India (in The Leprosy Mission Hospital, Vadathorasalur) and in the SLRTC, (Schieffelin Leprosy Research and Training Centre Karigiri), in Indonesia and in Ethiopia with ALERT (All Africa Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training centre in Addis Ababa).

The Dr Fritschi I knew was a simple, self-effacing person whose sense of humour always made a conversation with him very interesting and enjoyable. Even while operating and teaching there would be a great deal of light-hearted banter.

Now, as a surgeon, while operating, I constantly find myself conscious of copying his style and his attitude. He was always gentle and would not tolerate traumatic handling of the tissues. He would not allow anyone to hold the skin with toothed forceps. The skin had to be held with skin hooks and the subcutaneous tissue with toothed forceps. This was not only to protect delicate tissues but to show everyone that ‘you were well brought up’(!)

He would say to his assistants:

‘You know the general rules of surgery don’t you?’

‘What rules?’

‘If the result is good, it is because I’m a good surgeon. If the result is bad, it’s because your tensions on the tendon slips were either too loose or too tight!’

Dr Fritschi left his mark not only on the people whom he served and on his colleagues, other staff members and students but also on the landscape of the campuses in which he worked. An avid gardener, ornithologist and environmentalist, he could reel off the botanical name of the many flowering trees (most of which he had himself planted more than 20 years ago), and was knowledgeable of the habits of the wild fauna around the campus. He discouraged people from killing any snakes they found on the campus (In those days in Tamil Nadu it was widely believed that any snake that was seen needed to be killed to make the campus safe), but acknowledged that this was a losing battle. A voracious reader, his tastes extended from Curly Wee to the works of many Indian philosophers and of course The Bible. He was an ordained pastor of the Church of South India and was, by his own admission, ‘something of a Gandhian’.

Dr Fritschi cared deeply for people affected by leprosy who were or felt ostracised and worked with them not only to try to help solve their physical problems, but to help them live with dignity. He would personally walk with them chatting with them while they haltingly readjusted to their footwear or prosthesis. He taught himself to make footwear and could hold his own in a discussion with shoemakers on the technicalities of appropriate footwear for those with disabilities and deformities. He even boasted of a personal museum of traditional, footwear belonging to different time periods collected from different parts of the world.

He was a prolific writer and authored many original articles on care of the feet and surgery of the hands. However, he is chiefly remembered for his textbook on rehabilitative surgery in leprosy. Until recently, for many years, his was the only comprehensive textbook available for young surgeons who wanted to work in the field of leprosy. He was instrumental in training many surgeons directly and through his book. Dr Fritschi managed to convey knowledge of anatomy, surgical skills and techniques as well as a sense of wonder to those who came to learn from him. He never took himself too seriously and was able to laugh at himself and see himself in perspective. He was constantly conscious of his helplessness to meet the needs of all those who needed help and never felt that the solution to their needs lay only at the edge of his scalpel. He always strove to do more and more through his caring attitude rather than through his professional skill.

Dr Fritschi passed away on the 23rd of October 2011 after a protracted illness. He is fondly remembered and his life is celebrated not only by his family but by all whose lives he touched – both those whom he helped and those who have worked with him.

Dr Jerry Joshua, Head of Health Programmes
The Leprosy Mission Trust, India

 

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