Doctor who went beyond the call of duty

Chennai

I live near Ashok Pillar, one of the worst-affected places in the recent floods. When my grandmother fell ill, I managed to arrange medicines for her. However, at the same time I realised that others were not as fortunate as us. Since I had an adequate stock of medicines that could come in handy for many, I put up a board outside my clinic in the same locality. I also posted the information on a social networking site with my contact details. Soon I was flooded with calls and a number of people were able to get essential medicines.

Later, a few other doctors and I got together to organise screening camps in Jafferkhanpet, Nesapakkam and behind Citi Centre. There we diagnosed a number of cases of diarrhoea and sethu punnu (fungal infection in the foot).  While a large section of them didn’t have health complaints, all of them wanted to be screened. The most challenging part was to convince some people that every ailment cannot be treated at the camp. By the end of the exercise it was not about achieving something big, as there were a number of medical camps being set up. But yes when a small initiative can make a huge difference, it is worth doing all that it takes.