Dr Gautam Khastgir

Dr Gautam Khastgir graduated from Calcutta Medical College, with honours marks, several prizes and gold medals in the MBBS course. After graduation he worked at the Eden Hospital, Kolkata, with Professor B C Lahiri to complete his post-graduate training in Obstetrics & Gynaecology leading to DGO, DNB and MD from the Calcutta University and the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

After that he went to the UK for further training in Gynaecology, with a special emphasis on Reproductive Medicine and Surgery.
During the first year of his visit to the UK, he received both the Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCS) and the Membership from the Royal College of Obstetrician & Gynaecologists (MRCOG). He was subsequently awarded the Fellowship (FRCOG) by the College for his outstanding contribution in his specialty.

Dr Khastgir was awarded a prestigious Research Fellowship from the charitable trust, Wellbeing, supported by late Princess Diana, to evaluate the efficacy of hormone therapy on bones in young women with premature ovarian failure.

The research was conducted at the Imperial College in London under the supervision of Professor John Studd, a renowned Gynaecological Endocrinologist. This pioneering work led to several original research publications in peer-review scientific journals as well as chapters in different medical books.
He was subsequently appointed as a Subspecialty Senior Registrar in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, London, to work with Professor Christopher Sutton – a pioneer and world expert on Laparoscopic Laser Surgery. He received the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG) Travelling Fellowships and USA/UK Exchange Fellowship for further training in Gynaecological Endoscopic Surgery in the USA and Europe. He also worked extensively in different fields of Assisted Conception under the guidance of Dr Sam Abdalla – an infertility expert of international repute. His subspecialty training in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery has been accredited by the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists, London.

Dr Khastgir has lectured and published widely in the field of Infertility, Hormone Therapy and Endoscopic Surgery, both nationally and internationally. He has also written several books, of which one on Hysterectomy and HRT has been one of the best-sellers in the UK. His other books on Women’s Health and Pregnancy Planning are written in regional lndian languages for educating general public. He has participated in many public awareness programmes organised by NGOs and charities to make modern gynaecological treatment popular in the Eastern India. This has made him one of the most commonly seen faces in both electronic and print media propagating reproductive health awareness for women of all levels.

Since returning to Kolkata in the year 2000, he has worked as a Consultant Gynaecologist in many leading private hospitals of Kolkata. With his endeavor, Gynaecological Endoscopic Surgery has become very popular in West Bengal. He has removed the myth that such surgeries are only for the rich and celebrities. This was achieved, largely by working at charity hospitals and offering such services at a very reasonable cost. In the last 19 years, he has performed more than 15,000 Gynaecological Endoscopic Surgeries, a unique feat that has been achieved by very few doctors in the world. He is regularly conducting hands-on training programs and live-workshops on endoscopic surgeries and assisted conception in his own institution as well as in other states and countries. His institution has been selected by Karl Storz, a renowned German company, as one of the 6 training centers in India. He has already trained more than 150 doctors so that these advanced treatments are available to common people everywhere.

Currently, he is the Medical Director of BIRTH (an appropriate acronym for Bengal Infertility and Reproductive Therapy Hospital) which is his brain-Child, started in the year 2007. In this center, the full range of investigations and treatments for both male and female infertility are being offered at a reasonable cost under one roof. The standard of service is of international repute with the presence of doctors who trained abroad and the availability of state-of-the-art medical equipment. The use of contemporary and innovative technology has made infertility treatment so effective. Dr Khastgir has the credit of successfully operating on 12 mothers to deliver 15 babies (including 3 sets of twins) within a day which happened on 10.10.10. Such an achievement occurred mainly on the request of patients, who wished to remember this remarkable date possibly with profound Astrological significance! In the recent past, the institution had the honor of celebrating the birth of 1,000 gorgeous babies, all following successful infertility treatment, within a short period of 5 years. More than 250 babies with their parents attended the programme in the historic Town Hall of Kolkata.

Under his leadership, BIRTH offers cost-effective packages for middle-class people. He is really proud to serve even those from very low socio-economic strata like fishermen, auto-drivers, and hawkers who had successful assisted conception treatment in this center. These patients did not receive free treatment but arranged for loans as they had the confidence of good outcome of such modern treatment. There is a saying that nobody leaves the institute empty-handed. This word of mouth publicity has drawn patients from all neighboring states and countries. Being the busiest center of Reproductive Medicine and Surgery in Eastern India, it is planning to expand shortly with a new hospital building to become the leading institute in India.