Draft:Nikhil D. Datar

Nikhil D Datar is a senior consultant, obstetrician, and gynecologist based in Mumbai, India. He is also a medico-legal expert and a noted health rights activist in India.

Education and career
Nikhil Datar completed his MBBS from JJ Group of Hospitals Mumbai/ Mumbai University in 1991, followed by MD in Obstetrics & Gynaecology from KEM hospital, Mumbai University in 1996. He decided to pursue a law degree from Mumbai University in 2002 after confronting various medico-legal challenges in several critical medical cases during his career.

He was a consultant at Nanavati Hospital, and Hinduja Healthcare Surgical Hospital, He was a teacher to postgraduate students at R N Cooper Hospital for about 10 years.

He is experienced in handling high-risk pregnancies, and complex deliveries. He is highly experienced in doing vaginal surgeries as well as laparoscopic surgeries for fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and hysterectomy surgeries.

He has received two gold medals Dr. B N Purandare gold medal and Dr. Dastur gold medal for his achievements and was also awarded a prestigious Commonwealth professional fellowship by the Department of Health, United Kingdom in 2009. Dr. Nikhil Datar is popularly known as a health rights activist working intensively for patient rights and transparency in healthcare.

Biography
His father Pandit D. K. Datar was an Indian Violinist and Padma Shri awardee and his mother Sudha Datar is a senior practicing gynecologist based in Goregaon Mumbai. Nikhil is the Medical Director & Senior Gynaecologist at Cloudnine Hospital, Mumbai. He also works as an Honorary Professor at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai. He is also a Founder and President of Patient Safety Alliance, an NGO that works on empowering patients and supporting healthcare professionals to prevent medical errors. His case, Dr. Nikhil Datar vs Union of India has paved the way for an amendment to the MTP Act. He, along with his patient Niketa Mehta, challenged the MTP Act in 2008. He has helped over 300 women to seek the court's permission for termination of pregnancy beyond 20 weeks. This work is done pro bono by him. He was interviewed in the famous show “Satyamev Jayate (talk show)” by Aamir Khan for his exemplary work on Gender-sensitive protocol on examination and evidence collection of survivors of sexual assault. He was appointed to a high-level committee by WHO and the Government of India on the national think-tank. He was awarded a fellowship by the International Federation of Health and Human Rights in 2010. He was the recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth fellowship from the UK and worked on patient safety with the NHS in the UK and WHO in 2009. He sits on the advisory board of the Asian Center for Entertainment and Education (a sister organization of the Hollywood Health Society) along with eminent Bollywood personalities. He was a Recipient of Dr Purandare gold medal and Dr Dastur gold medal during his academic career. He is also a Founder and Trustee, “Forum for enhancing quality in health care”, an NGO working on quality in healthcare. He is a regular speaker at many prestigious international conferences and contributes articles to scientific journals as well as national newspapers such as Times of India, DNA, Maharashtra Times, and Loksatta.

Honors
He was selected as “Unique Maharashtrian” by Lokmat group and “Mumbai Hero” by Mumbai Mirror and Hindustan Times in 2018 and 2019. He was awarded the "Mehman-E-Watan" award by the Sindh Government, Pakistan, for his work in healthcare in 2006.

Memberships

 * Association of Medical Consultants
 * Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI)
 * Mumbai Obstetrics & Gynaecological Society
 * Association of Fellow Gynecologists
 * Indian Medical Association
 * Goregaon Medical Association
 * Malad Medical Association
 * Indian Association of Gynaecological Endoscopists (IAGE)
 * Patient Safety Alliance
 * Disease Management Association of India