My Story - 14
MY STORY - 14
DR SHANTILAL J. MEHTA
My best years which I have really
enjoyed, have been those when I had students to teach. I am convinced that the
present deterioration in the field of education is mainly due to the teachers
themselves. We have hadseveral
arguments on this subject: that present-day students are quite different from
the rest. We have been hearing this cliche for a have spent 30 years as a
teacher and another 10 years as an Emeritus Professor and I can boldly say
without any reservations that the today are no different from the students of
yesterday. If you find that at present they have taken to violence and
other malpractices, it is because they are giving vent to their frustration
when they find that they are indifferent or unpunctual in the performance of
their duties.
I have had over 200 house surgeons
working with me in my medical career spanning 54 years. One thing I have always
sought to inculcate in them was that they should not run after Laxmi. She is an elusive woman. She runs
away from you. But if you neglect Laxmiand worship Saraswati you will have
the rewards of both, Laxmi and Saraswati.
Politicians have a way of
lecturing to doctors that they should go to the villages.
I once challenged Bombay's Health
Minister that if he provided the necessary facilities I would take my students
and staff to any village he named for medical work. He accepted my challenge
and named an area inhabited by Bhil tribes near Reogarh Bharia in Gujarat. The
facilities were provided. I took with me a 37-member staff from the J.J.
Hospital including surgeons, anaesthetists, pathologists, nurses and housemen
along with the necessary equipment. In effect, we had a 50-bed hospital where
we performed 1,100 operations in 11 days, working 14 hours a day and performing
major surgeries. There was not a single death and when we finally left, we left
behind four Registrars and some nurses to look after the patients. About 75,000
patients came to the camp.
I screened a family planning film,
dubbed in Gujarati. I also addressed the people in Gujarati. At the end of the
film, 144 adivasi women came forward for sterilisation. Unfortunately, we were
already booked up and I told the Civil Surgeon present that it was not possible
to perform sterilisations. But the women went on a hunger-strike and I was
forced to do the operations which clearly shows that with a proper approach you
can make even an illiterate woman come forward to be sterilised. The day we
were to leave, a huge crowd collected to give us a send-off. You should have
seen the joy on their faces!
If you want medicos to go to rural
areas they should be given additional incentives such as free accommodation,
allowance for children's education, special rural allowance etc.