TWENTY-RUPEE DOCTOR
Thousands of people came together recently in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, for the funeral of Dr. V. Balasubramaniam. The medical doctor had won the affection of his many patients by charging a very small fee for treatment. In fact, according to a report at TheNewsMinute.com, Balasubramaniam was known as the “20-rupees doctor.”
It was important for him to make his services affordable for the poor. “God has given me sufficient money to take care of myself. I am helping the sick and the weak recover their health. Let God do the rest of the work,” Balasubramaniam told CovaiPost.com last year.
It’s no surprise that many of his patients worshipped him. “There wasn’t and there cannot be another god for us like the doctor,” a man named Bhoopathy told TheNewsMinute.com. “So many doctors are concerned with making money, but he was never bothered about that.”
It’s unfortunate that every city doesn’t have a doctor like him. Most doctors would never run their clinics like a charity, even if they had enough money in the bank already. Just call a random doctor in India and see how the receptionist answers.
Receptionist: “Hello. This is Dr. Mani’s office. We accept cash, Visa, and Mastercard.”
Patient: “I have only Rs. 20? May I see Dr. Mani?”
Receptionist: “For Rs. 20, you may see a photo of Dr. Mani. We have one in our waiting room.”
Patient: “What about Dr. Mani himself? How much do I need to pay to see him?”
Receptionist: “Rs. 2,000. Any other questions?”
Patient: “Yes, does the photo of Dr. Mani prescribe medicine?”
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
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