Doctors. The living God figure for all life on earth. A Doctor is the one who heals even the worst of health ailments and brings back the life and secures it to earth.
In fiction, “Super heroes wear masks and capes”. In reality “Super heroes wear Masks and White Coats”.
With Chennai as the Medical Hub of Asia, how can we not miss our doctors who took our city to this level. Ranging from a minor injury to world class transplant surgeries our doctors have mastered it in accomplishing them with flying colors. Chennai housed India’s first hospital during the British Raj at Fort St George and this one later moved to broadway which stands as Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital. Not only from India, patients from middle east countries, Afghanistan, Istanbul, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia and China visit Chennai for medical treatments.
Chennai has doctors in varied specialisations and each of them focus on a positive result and are dedicated to their white coats. With the medical field expanding to extreme limits our doctors have made sure that anything is possible in this little city. Specialised hospitals in ortho, heart and fertility treatments have scaled to unimaginable levels by achieving the impossible.
Padma Bhushan Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first women to be inducted to Madras Medical College in 1907 later to become the first female doctor in India and the first female surgeon at Government Maternity and Ophthalmic Hospital. Not only she struggled for India’s Independence, she also took women’s right and social activism as secondary wings and flew high. She is the founder of Cancer Institute in Chennai which currently provides treatment for approximately 1lakhs cancer patients a year, from every corner of the world.
Dr V.Shanta has been serving at the Cancer Institute since 1955. After she took over the lead position this Institute has received excellent accolades. This is India’s first medical center to be rated by World Health Organization as India’s top rated institutes. She has made sure that free cancer treatment is provided for the underprivileged and this nearly accounts to 60% of the annual treatment records. She has received India’s second highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan for her service in the field of cancer research and development. She is also the proud recipient of Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Philippines and also a advisory member at World Health Organisation(WHO).
Padma Bhushan Dr Girinath – cardio thoracic Surgeon from Apollo, Dr K.M Cherian- Heart specialist, Dr. Kamaraj – fertility specialist, Dr. T.S.Surendran – Sankara Nethralaya are just a few from among the thousands of doctors in Chennai who serve with dedication and strive for a healthy living atmosphere.
According to city doctor, Dr. Roopa, “The harassments and threats from patients and caretakers are also raising, sometimes it gets too much from doctors getting beaten up or even to an extent of murder. Besides all these doctors continue to do their duty acknowledging all the outcomes to be faced taking sole responsibility.”
Also in today’s urban life, corporate clinics have emerged in large number. Dental,skin care and ophthalmology centres run as a business entity with extravagant ads, posh office locations and function considering patients as customers. They run with a money making motive and do not provide the opportunity for dedicated doctors whose main focus is to serve the people.
On National Doctor’s day let us treat our real life superheroes with respect and dignity for we are not born today and living happily, if weren’t for them.
Photo courtesy – Focal Frames Photography
