Doctors are regarded as life saving gods in our society. But amongst such deities also dwell the devils who misuse their degrees and trick people into buying medicines, for their own benefit. And so when you hear a story of a doctor who spent his entire career helping the needy and treating the ill, it warms the cockles of your heart. Meet one of the most generous men of our generation – Dr. V. Balasubrahmaniam – the doctor who took just 20 rupees for any kind of treatment at his doorstep.
Dr. Balasubramaniam was born in Bodinayakar of the Theni district. He grew up to be a great doctor and set up free clinics for his patients wherever he would travel to for work under the ESI hospital organisation like Theni, Chennimalai in Erode and Coimbatore. For the past many years though he settled his clinic in Sidhapudur near Gandhipuram in Coimbatore. Initially he started his consultation at Rs. 2 when he set up the profession almost a decade ago. Later he increased it to just Rs. 10 and then again to Rs. 20 only because of inflation. But in reality Dr. Balasubramaniam would often try not to take money from his patients. He would not charge a fee for a revisiting patient and would try to prescribe medicines under just Rs. 50.
Bhoopathy who has been visiting him for ten years says, “The fees were charged from patients only if the doctor gave them injections. We would spend perhaps Rs. 30 on medicines, give the doctor Rs 20. We never spent more than Rs. 50. And we were always cured for our ailments. If we went back to him again, he wouldn’t take more money from us.” Unfortunately though, the doctor suffered from a fatal cardiac arrest at his residence in Singanallur last Friday.
The man had also talked to CovaiPost last year. When asked about his free service, he said “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.” And it is this generosity that led thousands of people to his doorstep on Saturday and Sunday, holding candles, garlands and much respect for the fallen doctor who had taken care of them in times of need.
Dr. Balasubramaniam’s granddaughter, Sindhu, also travelled from Bengaluru to Coimbatore for the funeral. She was flooded with calls from the doctor’s patients, offering their condolences and expressing their shock. “For the service he has done for people, I can see so many people here. At home we can’t see his presence so much. But I can see his presence in these people’s eyes today,” she said. But let us not let Dr. V. Balasubramaniam’s positive presence slip away and mark the day as a honour towards the man who put the need of others before his.
