 |
 |
| |
Doctor by Destiny
I was born on April 5, 1943 in Annur, a village of 4,000 in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. We are a family of 7 children. My father studied only up to the fifth grade. Education, he said, was not his cup of tea!
However, he was determined that his children should be well educated. His idea of education was to ensure that his children ended up as graduates at least.
During my childhood (the 40's), we studied in the government high school [where] facilities were far from satisfactory. My father used to wake me at 5 o'clock every day [because] we had to walk to school, which was a couple of kilometers away from home. He used to say 'Unless you work hard, you will not come up in life'.
He wanted a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer and a businessman in the family. He promised me that if I got a first class in my final school year exams, he would enroll me at a medical college. Today, I am fulfilling the dream he had for me [and my siblings] - that each one of us should choose a different profession and be successful in it.
At the age of two…
… I suffered from a severe bout of gastroenteritis. At the time, there were no proper medical facilities in villages in India and the elderly women in the village treated me. [My condition was so bad that people say] it was a miracle I survived. It was at this time that my father decided that I when I grow up, I should study to be a doctor.
There was another incident, which spurred me to consider this profession seriously. Around the age of 5 or 6, I fell seriously ill. I remember the doctor who would visit our home to give me injections. He would first boil the needle in an aluminum vessel, and then wait for it to dry before proceeding to give me the injection. Just the process of sterilizing the syringe would take half an hour and it was such an ordeal waiting for the jab! I was determined that when I grew up, I would become a doctor and change all this.
Thus, my determination to be in the medical profession was a combination of my father's vision, my illness at a young age and of course, God's will.
We were a poor family
My father, who had a road contract job, used to walk close to 35 km every day to his work site and back. He also worked part-time in a grocery store for a salary of Rs9 (less than Dh1) per month.
The year I passed my 10th grade (1957) was also the year my mother had a very traumatic accident. One day, she was trying to draw water from a well, which was about 200 feet deep, when she was slipped and fell into it. During the fall, she struck the side of the well and broke her back - an accident that left her with both legs paralyzed. She was in hospital for about 6 months before she could make even the smallest move. Seeing her condition strengthened my resolve to join in medical college.
Although I got admission at the Madras Medical College on merit, in 1958, I failed in the final examination. I [then] joined a tuberculosis hospital and sat for my exams six months later.
Looking back, I realize it was a blessing in disguise - I became very through in the treatment of tuberculosis and I developed a deep compassion for the patients as I used to be with them from the morning till night.
There was something else that touched me deeply during my time at medical college. We used to go remote villages to conduct health camps. There, it was common to come across poor children who were malnourished and who were suffering from scabies and other diseases. As medical students we couldn't help much, but I decided that when I do become a doctor I would help people who were poor and who did not have the financial means to opt for proper medical care.
The beginning of a career
In 1963, at the age of 20, I finished my college studies and the next year, I got married. My wife was 19 years old. It was around this time that I sat for an entrance examination for a higher course in Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Chicago (USA). I passed the exam, but then changed my mind about going to the west. Instead I joined a government medical institution with the aim on eventually becoming a professor of medicine.
Then, one night in 1972, close to a decade after I passed the entrance examination [for the college in US], I received a call from one of my former classmates inquiring if I was interested in fill a medical post in the same hospital. At the time, I was working at the medical college in Coimbatore (a town in Tamil Nadu, South India). Also, my father had just completed construction of a six-room hospital that he wanted me to run. I approached him and sought his permission to leave for the US. I recall that moment so well. He pondered over my request for close to two hours and said, "Promise me you will return in two years".
However I turned homesick at the end of three months itself and I was cursing myself for having gone there. America had given me a big cultural shock, but [at the same time] it was also the acme of medical services. Even though I had been an assistant professor for five years in India, it was in the US that I learnt the basics of medicine.
At the end of my two-year stay, in 1974, it was time to pack up and head back home.
When I returned to India, my father took a loan and built a 10-bedroom hospital, the KG Hospital - a move that revolutionized health care in Coimbatore. In 15 years, this hospital grew from 10 beds to 550 beds. My father even built a school for women.
In 1984, I received the Dr. B.C. Roy National Award from the government of India for the development of a medical institution of outstanding quality (the KG Hospital). It is the highest national award any Indian doctor can aspire to get and I was honoured to be its recipient.
Falling eyesight of a father
At the age of 72, my father's eyesight began to deteriorate and he required a cataract operation. We had to travel to Pittsburgh, US and the trip and the medical treatment cost us Rs10 lakhs (Dh8,115).
This got me thinking and as soon as we returned from America, I decided to open a 500-bed eye hospital. In 1997, the KG Eye Hospital - which was built away from Coimbatore city - became a reality. This facility offers treatment for the Indian farm workers who go blind at the age of 55-60.
I realized that these people didn't have the money to travel to the city to consult doctors. So we decided to conduct health camps as well and send doctors and nurses to help them. In the past eight years, around 70,000 patients have been treated free of charge at our institution. The WHO [World Health Organization] supports us by providing us Rs300 (around Dh26) per patient. The rest of the cost is borne by the K. Govindaswamy Naidu Medical Trust - a voluntary, charitable, non-profit trust fund.
Eco friendly…
Biomedical waste from hospitals is the No.1 pollutant in any country. We have a Indian Medical Association-sponsored programme for managing this waste. A hundred hospitals have become members of this organization. We have a common treatment plant where each kind of waste is treated separately.
Looking ahead...
… We plan to set up a hospice for terminally-ill patients, create an International Medical University for Women at Coimbatore and collaborate with various government departments, bodies and foreign agencies to make Coimbatore a healthcare and software destination.
We also plan to offer our services to people of the lower social strata in Dubai. Our chief Cardiologist, Chief Neurologist and Chief Orthopedic surgeon will provide free medical check-ups.
Ours is a non-profit charitable organization, and we are looking forward to sponsors - individuals or organizations - to turn this into a reality.
- As told to Qadijah S. Irshad
|
|
|
|
|