SAMBALPUR: At the height of
Covid-19 last year, Shankar Ramchandani had earned plenty of praise for attending to a virus patient beyond his duty hours and then transferring him to
VIMSAR, Burla, in his own car for treatment. But helping the
poor and helpless is not just a passing fad for this assistant professor in the department of medicine at VIMSAR. On Friday, he launched a
clinic at his rented acommodation in Kachha Market area of
Burla through which he is providing treatment to patients for just Re 1.
“Thirty-three patients visited the clinic on the first day while around 30 came for consultation on Saturday,” said the 38-year-old doctor who is helped oin his endeavour by his wife Sikha, a dental surgeon.
Titled “One Rupee Clinic”, it remains open from 7-8 in the morning and 6-7 in the evening. “The clinic has provided me with an opportunity to serve the poor, destitute, unprivileged, elderly and physically challenged as well as those who do not have access to proper medical care. I am a doctor of the masses, and not the classes,” Shankar said.
Asked why he didn’t make it free of cost, Shankar said he charges them the nominal amount because “I don’t want them to feel that they are availing the service free of cost. They should also think that they have paid some money for their treatment”.
Talking about his effort, Shankar said he had always wanted to provide free treatment to the poor and underprivileged. “When I joined VIMSAR as a senior resident I could not do private practice since senior residents are not allowed to do so. Hence, I could not start the clinic. But after I was promoted as assistant professor, it opened the door for me to do private practice after my duty hours. That resulted in the ‘One-Rupee Clinic’,” Shankar said.
He said his late father, Brahmanand Ramchandani, had wanted him to open a nursinghome for the poor. “But a nursinghome requires a huge amount of investment and it is not possible to provide treatment to poor people at Rs 1. Hence, I settled upon this clinic,” he said.
Talking about his endeavour, Shankar said every day hundreds of people visit VIMSAR’s OPD. “One can see a long queue of patients to consult the doctors. I have seen elderly people and those with disabilities waiting for hours to see the doctor. Here, they don’t need to wait for hours. They can come to the clinic and get consultation for Re 1,” he added.