How did he choose a profession and what was his childhood time dream? Professor Lado Kuchava

What does it mean to be a doctor and a teacher, what was the first defeat like; the first surgery performed at the age of 22, and whether he is nervous before entering the operating room -  a fancier of fiction, a desirable respondent for all journalists, the Clinical Head of the Institute of Clinical Oncology, laureate of the State Prize, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Lado Kuchava.

- What did you dream about as a child?

About everything except being a doctor. I didn't have a doctor in any of my ancestors' lines. My grandma wanted me to continue my grandfather's legacy and chose his profession as I looked very much like him. My grandfather Zakaria Kanchaveli was a famous botanist, he is even included in the book dedicated to prominent people "The Best Georgian in Georgia, Throughout History", everyone who reads this book thinks it's me, the resemblance is so great.

- How did you choose your profession? 

I am a realist person and I will not romanticize it. I can’t lie to you that since childhood I dreamed of becoming a doctor, I saw a movie or read a book that inspired me. No, it was not like that, everything happened much easier. I was sixteen when I graduated from school with a gold medal. Someone, in a conversation, told me that the most difficult was to get into medical school. It was a childish ambition and challenge for me, I wanted to prove to everyone that I was capable of doing it.

- What does it mean to be a doctor?

A relative of mine was graduating from school when I asked him which faculty he wanted to apply for and if I remember correctly he answered faculty of mathematics. I asked him if he had ever thought about medicine and he said:  "Yes, but I don’t want. Being surprised, I asked why, and he replied that he was afraid to undertake responsibility for others’ health and lives.  Being a doctor means taking responsibility for others’ health. The biggest fear of humans is death, and it's a doctor’s obligation to protect a person from what he fears the most. The most valuable thing for a human after his children is his own life and we are obliged to preserve it for him.

- Do you remember your first victory?

Not victory but I remember my first failure. I even remember the patient’s family name and still see his image. Churchill said, "The death of one person is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic". We fight to save every single person. To return to your question, fortunately, there have been many victories, I have patients who celebrate their second birthday on the day I’ve performed the surgery.

- Are you nervous before the surgery starts?

I’ll never forget my teacher Wagner's phrase: If you have to perform simple surgery and you are not nervous, quit this profession that day. Of course, I am nervous. There is probably no surgeon who has never wished “not to be born at all”. Many times I have told my patients: you are the first one, who is concerned about your health, then come your parents and children, and in third place it’s me.

Do you remember your first surgery?

I was very young then, twenty-two... I remember that was skin melanoma    

Has technology development changed the medicine?

A lot of things have changed, from diagnostic examinations to surgical sutures.

- Does surgical improvisation exist?

Of course, it exists. Every organism is different; everyone has an individual anatomy.  We often encounter a case that may not be found in any guideline. Guidelines provide rules, what and how should be done but they also say that these are only recommendations and not exact instructions, so this is where surgical improvisation occurs.

- You have extensive experience in teaching. What kind of relationship do you have with students? Isn’t it a big responsibility as well? 

- It’s a huge responsibility. It reminds me of Dostoevsky's "Demons", where one of the characters says that it's impossible to love what you don't know, and I would add that you can't learn what you don't love, and to love it, you need a teacher. In my opinion, a teacher’s main purpose is to make people love their profession.