The car had stopped on the roadside to get a punctured tyre changed when it was hit from behind.A well-known spine surgeon based in Pune, Dr Ketan Khurjekar (44), and the driver of his car were killed and two other doctors injured after they were hit by a speeding bus on the Pune Mumbai Expressway near Talegaon on Sunday night.
The car had stopped on the roadside to get a punctured tyre changed.
As per the information given by local police, the incident took place around 10.30 pm on Sunday when the three doctors were returning from a medical conference in Mumbai along with their driver.
Police have identified the deceased driver as Dnyaneshwar Bhosale and the two injured doctors as Jayesh Pawar and Pramod Bhillare. Dr Khurjekar was attached to the Sancheti Hospital in Pune as the Chief Spine Surgeon.
Inspector Kishor Mhasawade of Shirgaon Police station under Pimpri Chinchwad police jurisdiction said, “As per our primary information, the car had halted on the roadside after a puncture in one of the tyres. While the tyre was being changed, a speeding private bus came from behind and hit them. Dr Khurjekar and the driver were killed and two other doctors have sustained serious injuries. The driver of the bus fled after the accident, we have launched a search for him.”
Dr Khurjekar was Head of Department of Spine Surgery at Sancheti Hospital, Pune. He had revolutionised the concepts of rehabilitation of spine surgery and had been instrumental in driving away fear about spine surgery from the minds of several people. He had performed more than 3,500 complicated spine surgeries and was a gold medalist in MS Ortho.
He was an awardee of ‘Global Scholarship’ given by Scoliosis Research Society and had mastered microsurgical techniques and Spinal Deformity Correction methods. “It is a huge loss”, Dr Parag Sancheti, Managing Trustee of the Sancheti Hospital said.
