Real Hero: doctor who charges
Rs 5 for treatment
PART ONE
Ranchi: Doctor Shyama Prasad Mukherjee has been treating
poor patients for a mere Rs five for the last 55 years. He is said
to be a medical marvel of a different kind. His consultation charges
have helped many poor patients in times of sickness when other
doctors and hospitals are too expensive for them.
One such family who have immense respect for Dr Mukherjee is
that of Harinandan Singh. Singh, who like every doting father,
wanted the best cure for his sick son, but he couldn't afford it.
A harsh reality faced by thousands across the country.
Luckily for Singh there was a way out - their doctor Sahib
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who treated Singh's son for just Rs 5.
Dr SP Mukherjee said, "I have learnt that one has to draw a line
and to know how much is enough. That's the point that one
should look for because if I am the doctor I should have a
sympathetic attitude to my patients. Everything cannot be
commercial. If I would have liked to become a billionaire or
millionaire, I should have taken up some other profession."
Dr Mukherjee, 75-years-old, has been following his professions'
Hippocratic oath every single day since 1957.
Perhaps his own personal tragedy holds the key to his selfless
service.
He lost his first wife when she was just 29. She died of an
incurable disease leaving behind two young daughters.
Dr Mukherjee remarried but sadly his second wife is crippled
and bed ridden for the last three years.
"So things have been very bad… Very very bad all my life.
I could have served the people better if my family life could
have been better," Dr Mukherjee said.
However, most of his patients are not aware of Dr Mukherjee's
personal tragedy, for them his cure is god sent.
"He is like a God for us," said Harinandan Singh.
Dr Mukherjee spends two hours everyday in his Lalpur Pathology
Lab. What he earns in the pathology lab helps him give free
medicines to patients and treat them for just Rs 5 - an insignificant
amount in today's time.
This Rs 5 treatment is what gives his patients the cure and
happiness which is priceless, and perhaps in their good will
Dr Mukherjee finds a remedy to his life's tragedies.
"When a child suffering from broncho demonia or a child
suffering from diarrhea vomiting comes to me in a very
precarious condition I treat him. Sometimes I suggest him for
hospitalisation but they don't go and subsequently they come
back with a smiling child that is my reward and that is my
professional fees," added Dr Mukherjee.
-- http://ibnlive.in.com/news/real-hero-doctor-who-charges-rs-5-for-treatment/171491-3.html
This is not all. Dr. Mukherjee does not even charge
extremely poor patients, besides offering them free
medicines, which he gets from pharmaceutical companies.
Dr Mukherjee also advises his relatively well-off patients,
who feel embarrassed in paying just Rs five as his
consultancy, to help others. "I cannot accept more than
Rs 5," he says.
With the clock striking half past ten, Doctor Shyama
Prasad Mukherjee settles down at his clinic near Lalpur
in Ranchi where he stays till 7.30 PM. These days,
the first half is reserved for his pathology laboratory,
while he devotes his entire time after lunch attending
patients.
The age may have made its impact, but it is no deterrent
for this indefatigable old man from Jharkhand.
Mukherjee's story would be incomplete without a
mention of his wife Uma Mukherjee, who despite facing
several ailments has helped him remain focused and
motivated. Even from the little income, Dr Mukherjee
makes donations to schools.
Over the years, the doctor has made his little
compromises to bring a benign smile on the pale,
ragged faces of the poor he serves.
"My pension and the earning from the pathology lab
help me run my household. You need to draw a line
somewhere. One can desire for so many things but
perhaps one does not need everything that he craves
for," he says.
Even today, 44 years after he started practicing in
Ranchi, Dr Mukherjee is still motivated to treat patients
for a pittance. But what drives him on? "A poor man's
plight and the realisation is that my contribution is still
too little to make a difference," he says.
In fact, Dr Mukherjee is known to be a person who
has refused requests for newspaper interviews and
many felicitation offers. He does not do it for publicity."
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