DAKTARBABU

Daktarbabu.

(DAKTARBABU     (TRANSCREATION OF MY STORY, 'THE BULLOCK CART OF MAGUNI'.  First story in Madhubana days written in my mother tongue Odia in 2004. The borrowed milestone title of  the great author Late Sri Godabarisha Mohapatra to whom the story is dedicated, is thoughtfully changed to a simpler one. Dt.14.10.2014 and Dt.22.09.2017.)

     Discussion rounds the corners of the industrial city of Madhubana for last a few many days that daktarbabu became lunatic.  Consultants in so many medical branches are now popular names in the city but only one, that is he, whose name general public did not know, was addressed Daktarbabu (Mr. Doctor). Only a few people know his irrelevant real name. His place is called Daktarkhana (hospital). The surrounding area, the number one ward of the new Municipality is known as daktarkhanasahi and the sector one of the city to which the ward belongs is also known in the same name.

     The age of the city of Madhubana is only some years more than a quarter of a century, twenty seven years back the first ultra modern ferroalloys plant started operation within the heart of several mines; ‘iron chromites, coal, manganese, nickel’ all available. It was followed by so many small, medium and a few mega industries. The city has swollen. Madhubana now attracts a plenty many possibilities, the most ambitious attraction in the world industrial map.

Well before any remote possibility of such progress dawned in the horizon, about thirty five years back the young man with the contemporary highest qualification in medical science reached this valley.

Purpose? ‘He would serve’.

 With a bicycle of Raleigh brand he ran from village to village, to declare his serving presence. From ear to ear, from village to hamlets, from hill top Juanga tribes in Guiashal and Nagada to the most fertile island villages encircled by the tributaries of river Brahmani, he moved nonstop. Modern treatment gradually went on replacing the blind beliefs, the witch craft, animal sacrifice, offerings to devil Gods of epidemics; tremendous hard work. He desired to be a specialist doctor in his trained subject, to establish a maternity home. Soon he knew it was not a possible, he abandoned the idea and was content to be a health educator, a general practitioner. It was the absolute necessity, no way out. Very soon his house automatically turned to be a place of consultation, a clinic, a hospital or the daktarkhana. It unnecessary to give it a name, and his name also became irrelevant. He became daktarbabu. After five years of his arrival a government hospital came up but people had to designate that as government daktarkhana and his house remained the original in people’s addressing. He sometimes recollected how he came in a picnic party with friends to the small waterfall of the area and fell in love with nature. Little did he know that love one day would pull him to Madhubana with his limited savings to work here forever? It amused him whenever he recollected his own life story.

His struggle was a carbon copy of what usually one sees in a movie. He raised an army of volunteers in villages. Habit of people changed, health seeking attitude developed. He very soon had a moderate income which helped the built up of the institution. Within five years he became an institution out a person, daktarbabu. Needless to say his efforts not only helped the health scenario but also brought a big social and behavioral change, a rational approach of thinking in social life. Literacy became a felt need.

 He became out oriented under the influence of his ideology and passion. His family and friends called eccentric. He felt it wise to remain a bachelor, all persuasions by friends and family was futile. He was obsessed with daktarkhana, when he got an income of a coin he planned an improvement of a note. He went on expanding constantly though it had to be very slow. House, instruments, literature, training of volunteers, and paid workers, he went on improving. His institution provided living to twenty five families. He considered it as the success; he remained graceful as he measured his wages not as per the money counted but how much social gain his institution was responsible for.

By the time the government hospital was established daktarkhana already had become a yielding tree that provided fruits as well as shade. Government health center created no more than a knee jerk response. Any negative feeling was not allowed to settle, the growing need of the area he was unable to cater himself. He thought it was a help and cooperated for its establishment and became happy that his idea was invited.

A young doctor, Siva Pattanaik was posted first. He offered Siva all possible help, encouragement, offers of some extra work and income, free quarter, and offered the person in himself to interact anytime in true spirit. Siva initially seemed to be very happy and valued his helping hand. He kept daktarbabu in very high esteem but could not stay for a long. The senior man’s compassionate soul could not make it out, what was the fault of so nice people of the beautiful area and what extra could have been done to keep back Siva. Daktarbabu was unable to enter the area of modern human aspirations.

Later on Siva sent a letter from USA where he was working as an assistant registrar after doing a health management higher course, helping his American colleague. He wrote that he missed his beautiful short stay with the great man, daktarbabu.

 He became very happy to be remembered by his short time young colleague.

Siva had assured him, his first project in India would be at Madhubana. Siva also had confessed he now was not directly involved in patient care; this made the senior, feel for the young man.

 He was unable to understand it, why any other man other than a doctor would not do the management aspect, why the young doctor should not do his real job, he was confused, felt himself unwise out dated.

He blessed Siva where ever he was and wrote his encouraging reply.

So many doctors later on were posted in the government hospital. They worked as much as would be sufficient that a higher authority was not compelled to stop his pay; they used other means to please the authority. Job’s only purpose was to save the job with as little work as acceptable. After his experience with Siva he could not motivate himself to be very helping or familiar with any new doctor except some exchange of courtesy.

 He encouraged many localities to be health care providers as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians, health workers. He also helped some students but only of limited success. Only a few returned back to work in the area, they preferred their own places of conveniences. In own area the bird feared to nest, fear of the rat snake that swims up the nest to swallow the eggs. He did not react to it after several repetitions. He trained his own helping hands, sometimes he stopped all work and went for short training courses, conferences and old well placed friends to acquire needful up gradation, implemented it.

 Go alone go with Madhubana became his Mantra. He always felt success within reach, for him for the innocent tribal and poor people of Madhubana. Nonstop like the moving arms of a clock he went on.

He knew his limit, renovation of machineries not possible with his income, non availability of skilled human resources, limitation on his part to train the unqualified people to work with, the legal aspect of doing work with these assistants. The need of pediatrician, anesthetist and others he judged very well. He knew their presence automatically generates revenue so he posted attractive advertisements with no success. He believed good days would come to the log book of him and Madhubana. He in no case wanted anything being blind to Madhubana.

Then started the Industrial revolution in the area, one two three and many were commissioned one after another. All of them established their own hospital as per their MOU. He witnessed several fire walks. People initially made queues. He was apprehensive not for himself but for the twenty five dependant families. He knew, whatever property he possessed was enough to scrap all his loans and lead a comfortable life ahead. Rising prices of property courtesy the industrialization indirectly helped his project. So these were not competitors but promoters in a sense. But what about these families, he was not sure. He rejected all proposals of the corporate to draft him in their hospitals. On the other front he told himself, the original purpose of him, getting good health care for the people of his Madhubana was a surety, why he should bother.

 People for unknown reason returned back, they had turned excessive dependant on him. They had not the privilege to interact with the new doctors the way they did with him. They did not like the charity approach of the new hospitals. He became depressed with the people’s behavior even if it was good for his income. He felt as if a full cycle is over from reliance on blind belief to blindly follow a doctor even if better choices were available. He had doubt on himself, his rotten prawn sold only because of his cheap availability. He felt cheating the innocence of his blind followers?

A new approach he adopted, he tried to influence all eminent persons and the industries to integrate his daktarkhana with their hospitals and allow their specialists to work in it. Better patient following to be integrated with better skilled persons, was an innovative idea for which all necessary amendments all groups did. He took a big bank loan and upgraded his institution as per modern norms.

 The cost of hospital care had to increase and the conflict between what one wanted and what the situation needed happened within no times.

The hospital became more oriented to the care of the employees for whom company paid and the rich who did afford. General public felt neglected. The one who one day was travelling to the hill top to the island villages was suffocated. The old workers whom he raised as his own children were now treated as the servants by the skilled new employees and consultants. The new group always black mailed to leave, if pay was not raised. They always referred the useless old employee’s pay and demanded several times of it as their own salary. The original team headed by him became homeless in their own home. Their freedom and carefree life style was severely compromised.

To match his internal situation the external society was also in turmoil. Clever people coped with the new developments, started several new business, transport, contract work, labor supply, small allied small scale industries, hotels and vary many ways of earning money made them well to do. Some people worked in the plants and had a descent living. Those who could not, there condition turned horrible although they were too many. The prices of essential daily needs peaked high. They were not gainers of the situation. They gradually turned away from the agricultural fields as farming no more was sustainable. They lived in ruins. The hesitation to work as domestic helps, as hotel boys and similar things vanished. Alcohol, opium, marijuana, charas, brown sugar, heroine increased and with it burglary etc in equal pace. Sex workers were a new in the profession in the area and a whole group specialized to run it. So many wanted and unwanted elements invaded the area, slums developed. The beautiful villages were now called sub urban areas in derogation. It put the whole living millue in tremendous pressure. New diseases appeared, suicides increased, and mental derangements were common. After getting several HIV cases he thought this city would collapse at the same pace it was built. His dream turned a night mare.

He was not a king, but he felt the original Madhubanias were his subjects, who now a days could not even afford to come to the daktarkhana. He was cut off from his subjects. He was helpless in neck deep of loans. He was very confused to draw a line between progress and regress. The purpose of progress the path mankind is leading to. He got no one to divulge his concerns. The educated were enjoying the happenings deaf without any concern. The sufferers are too simple to listen understand his concerns. He was a mere server of the society like the barber, the washer man the cobbler. He felt himself very small and incapable. His compulsion for repayment of loans and his social responsibility pulled him to two opposite poles. He cannot leave the battle field he had no government job, no pension, and no way to repay other than earning at least the monthly installments. He had a long distance to go plenty many installments. He badly wanted to communicate with Siva but there was no link. Why did he do so much labor if the end result was like this?

Others did not know what was running in his mind. People found no reason why he should not be happy with the new developments that probably had brought the highest opportunity amongst the original inhabitants to earn to prosper.

When one day he came out repairing and oiling his old Raleigh cycle and wandered from place to place people thought he turned psychotic. His beloved subjects were no more so, they did not connect to him. He felt as if all the poor people of India, Nepal and Bangladesh are now residing in Madhubana. They are living in the most secular dwellings of slums, the unhealthy swampy, crowded places under a hanging sword, that any time may come a bulldozer to make them homeless, by the decision of Madhubana Development Authority. Whom to help and what to help? He met the CDMO. He discussed the health issues, the functioning and upgrading of the health units in Madhubana. Lack of human resources even to work in an industrial city amazed his mind. He knew the CDMO is helpless. He consoled himself; no complain against his professional brothers, at least day by day human life span was increasing. He came back and increased his effort. He reorganized the volunteers, told them to help the government health service providers, to the maximum benefit of public.

He never rechecked the effect of his effort as he felt it must not have worked, he had turned a pessimist.

He resisted the demand of purchasing new instruments by various consultants, He did not want any expansion, and his priority now was to repay all loans.

 Dr Siva Pattanaik all at a sudden returned to India as representative of NRI doctors in connection of a conference to discuss the dual citizenship issue. He called on daktarbabu. Now the old man became very happy. He got the man with him he shared all his observations.

 The developments astonished Siva. He explained the details how a corporate hospital functioned. How to earn and spend, how to tackle customers complaints, the insurance, the new designs of services, how to keep back your old customers, how to avoid attrition of employees all, he described. Cuts to the consultants he presented without any inhibition. Daktarbabu heard everything with attention. Yes Siva’s design was very strong and economically viable. He found, all is based on the middle class aspiration, their maximum paying capacity, and their tolerance limit to exploitation. It was beneficial for improvement of health care sector and for the beneficiaries. Yes Siva was very correct in a way. But what about the slum dwellers, the rag pickers, drug peddlers, the exploited poor women, and the cohabitants of tuberculosis patients in the window less dark swampy rooms, their number had increased so much. What the new model had to tackle the spread of dengue, malaria, cholera, HIV, malnutrition and so on. He had not forgotten his design of wholesome health care, private or government with which he was very much successful some years back. He could not imagine the sudden unmatched developments, the rapid industrialization and the social changes it brought there in had opposite effects.

 The planners should have foreseen it so also he himself. Siva’s proposal he appreciated and all cooperation assured. However he declined to be the director of the corporate hospital as he knew it would definitely run without his job and the job for which he was concerned that no one was ready to do except himself.

 He was not unaware that Siva was showing an honorable escape route that would solve all his financial problems. But he had other purposes of life for which he was destined. He never prepared a loss and gain balance sheet anytime in past. He knew Siva gave a chance for a better future of the twenty five families, his unit was attached with. But he wanted to dissociate himself.  His identity built in years became dear to him, he wanted to protect it. He imagined the people whom he served, henceforth in the proposed scheme had no chance to remain in direct contact.

Siva’s words were not superficial. He actually returned with all preparedness and daktarbabu helped him using his full capacity. His heart was very open for newer developments but his freedom was more costly to him and he was ready to sacrifice everything except his different way of thinking.

 Siva drafted leading medical professionals working in various capacities in the city. Almost all plants engaged Siva’s moon hospital, for their employees’ health care. Their own hospitals reduced to mandatory safety provision of industry, and preparedness for accidents; so to say they almost closed their hospitals. A hospital for an industry was just like a combination of thick castor oil to the woolen skin of a sheep. For them a corporate hospital tie up was cheaper than running a hospital. Whatever public benefit these hospitals were providing was lost.

Siva’s Moon Hospital very soon became a leading hospital chain in India.

The common people for whom daktarbabu was so much worried about also tried their level best to be treated at moon hospital even at the cost of selling their property. Those who could not were very depressed. Some people saved money only to avail Moon’s service in future. Initially he became very happy that people were more concerned about their health needs. He very soon saw the other side, when his old associate Khetara sold his two yielding cows only to undergo a whole body checkup which he believed should tell all the possible diseases that he was carrying. What a strong age old association to be away from the chance of being mortal!

Not only that he observed people thought his unit as old out dated might be his services as well.

 He moved with his bicycle and found the social volunteers he raised are now paid volunteers of the corporate hospital, yes paid in percentage.

 He got relieved, an abnormal sense of fulfillment he felt. He felt as if He the heavenly power was telling ‘Son do not worry, you did your job to the best of your ability, now retire, take rest, explore other passions.’ He felt very pleased.

It was not difficult on his part to dispose all his property, all machineries except his library and living house. He was in very good health physically, mentally and was technically skilled enough to work in Moon for which Siva once again approached him but he offered a smile of denial and a plate of sweets as his blessing gesture, the sweets he knew Siva loved.

 Many people were happy; the volunteers were saved from their feeling of conflict of interest, they now became free to work for moon only. The political aspirants no more thought him as a competitor. The health administrators whose doors he was knocking at times no more would be disturbed. And he himself now became open to the limitless sky of freedom.

Not a bullock cart, it is ASHA hospital at the feet of Sunajhari hill.

 People saw him withdrawn, always busy in reading and writing, typing in front of a computer, only time he came out was in the morning when he did about five kilometer cycling to the old King’s house to check his health as that old man older than the doctor felt his services was his royal daily right. Also some say king wanted to read, what Daktarbabu wrote more. He himself thought it was his physical exercise to keep him fit for his mental exercise.

Let us hope something big in process.

(The author wrote and published the story in Odia with another title in 2004 without knowing his own future, much of the storyline, the destiny enacted in real through him in the capacity of a serving Obstetrician and Gynecologist, this foot note is for the people who know the author in person, with the request to read it as a fiction not as memoir)