Doc delivers medicines at door step in Adityapur

TNN | Apr 4, 2020, 06:00 IST

Jamshedpur: At a time when the fear of contracting the novel coronavirus has forced many doctors to shut their private clinics in the Steel City, there are still a few who believe in the motto of ‘duty first, self last’.
Dr Kumar Sarosh, 42, a dental surgeon, who runs a private clinic in Adityapur in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district is not only attending to patients in his chamber but is also delivering medicines at their doorstep.
Talking to TOI on Thursday, Sarosh said: “It is unethical for any doctor to refuse treatment to a patient. But if anyone wants to pay a visit to my clinic, I first ensure that s/he does not have travel history to any foreign country in the last two months.”
The dentist, who graduated from Manipal, said senior citizens cannot bear tooth ache for long and if they do not get treatment it can turn out to be fatal too. He added that all precautions were being taken to prevent anyone from getting infected with coronavirus at his clinic.
The Good Samaritan and three to four volunteers, mostly in the age-group of 20 to 40 years, help supply medicines free of cost to the doorstep of patients during the lockdown.
The doctor said, at present, the doorstep delivery of medicines is available to the residents of Adityapur and neighbouring areas. But he promised that if he gets more helpers, then he would extend the service to the whole of Steel City.
Replying to a query on the road blocks he is facing now, Sarosh said: “The medicines have to be collected in bulk from stockists in Jugsalai, Bistupur and Sakchi, as the latter are unwilling to deliver the orders due to transportation problem. I have to go to these places on my bike to collect the medicines.”
The doctor complained that even after several requests to the district administration, they have failed to give him a pass for free movement during the lockdown, as a result of which he often has to face a volley of question from the cops at the check points.
The doctor said he and his boys wear masks and use sanitizers when they go out to deliver the medicines.