The good doctor

The two-storeyed house in a bylane near Gandhi Hospital in Padmarao Nagar has an old world charm about it. Inside, patients wait for the tall, balding doctor who lives upstairs.

In a world of plate glass, Swiss steel corporate hospitals where heart surgery costs a few lakhs, the doctor in this homely hospital has performed more than 10,000 surgeries for less than Rs. 10,000.

Meet Dr. S. Uday Shankar, the recent winner of `Bharatiya Chikitsak Ratan', an award recognising individual excellence in medicine.

A true reflection of his unassuming personality, his small, non-intimidating, hassle-free Maruti Nursing Home makes his patients feel almost like home. "I don't want my patients to sell their property to get themselves cured," he says firmly, adding, "I'm not here to decide whether my patients live or not. I just do my best by encouraging them to have a wish to live, and leave the rest to them. I aim to keep the organ intact for a longer time, as I believe that prevention is greater, not just better, than cure."

A champion of the poor, he feels that not many can afford expensive diagnosis, and believes that the cost of the treatment can be drastically reduced if one can "manage things at home with a little

help from a trained expert within the first 24 to 48 hours which are crucial in the case of a heart attack. Total immobilisation of the patient is the key to tide over the crisis," he says.

"Little things like keeping the ICCU room, oxygen cylinder, and life-saving drugs within a reachable distance from the entrance of the hospital go a long way in saving a patient's life," is what he believes.

Advocating the concept of multi-functionality of doctors rather than a single specialty, he says, "Today, experts are making this mistake of not looking at the patient as a whole. By treating just one diseased organ, they are ignoring its negative impact on the rest of the body."

Backed by degrees in cardiology, radiology, general medicine and surgery, nephrology and rheumatology, he carries on his mission zealously. His current passion, an overnight decision, is to take inexpensive medicare to the rural poor who are suffering from flourosis.

Patients in places like Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Vijayawada, and Chouttuppal with its highest rate of 90 per cent incidence, eagerly await his visit every week.

It is not that he never dreamt of big money and bigger cities. As a child, he wanted to become a doctor, go abroad and earn a lot. And he did go to the U.S.A. where his parents and siblings have settled, but returned within three years with an almost feverish passion.

"Perhaps, India's gravity is greater than that of the U.S.A.," he chuckles.

Despite dedicating himself to the service of the poor, he feels what he is doing is nothing out-of-the-ordinary. "While some give education, and some money, I give health to my patients," he says.

Perhaps, this down-to-earth attitude is the key to his success.

SHANTI NANISETTI