Ultimate satisfaction

I have been having Amma’s darshan for about 15 years. Amma had come to our place when I was in the 6th standard. We were staying in Suratkal at that time. The program was in a beach side village near Mangalore. My exams were going on at that time but my father forcibly took me to meet Amma. We started from our house at 1 am and reached the program site at 3 am. I had exams the next day so we thought that going early would help us get darshan earlier.
I met Amma during the morning program – it was a very nice feeling, even though I was small I still could feel something special in Her presence. My father became an ardent devotee in just that one meeting.
At that time the family had been going through a difficult time. We had little money and all three siblings were studying – so there was a strain on my father. But the moment we met Amma our lives seemed to change. After that our lives changed, all our problems started disappearing. Since that first darshan I have been meeting Amma every year.

So naturally as soon as I finished my internship my father wanted me to start my career in Amma’s hospital. In the time I have been here I have also finished my post grad diploma in clinical research.

My father had always wanted me to see the different facets of life – how difficult it is for some people to eke out a living. Though our family had gone through tough times because of my father I never knew any hardship. So I too wanted to meet people who really needed help. When I told my father that I was going to Bihar as part of the ashram team to help people there, my father cried.

In Bihar I found a different India. A face which was not shining. At Patna station I talked to a newspaper vendor. I bought a railway timetable from him and he could not even tell me the price. He asked me to read out the price and pay him. Poverty, lack of hygiene, lack of education and proper housing – these sites met my eyes as I went further in.

I feel so good that I am able to do something at our camp. Every patient who comes – who tells me that he or she is feeling better, when they come with a smile on their face – I feel so touched. It encourages me to do more for the people. When a patient comes back and expresses relief from some ailment it is an incomparable experience for a doctor. You are able to help another human being – that is the ultimate satisfaction for a doctor.

Since we have a wide range of drugs, vitamins & minerals, health tonics and health supplements – we are really able to help the patients. This is what we really need here – just antibiotics, etc would have been but half a cure, for there are so many cases of malnutrition, anemia, deficiency disorders, etc. Lack of vitamin A could make a person blind – but just 2ml of vitamin A supplement could prevent this.  It is fulfilling to be able to provide this. We also have lots of food supplements for children.

I am also learning from this experience. In complicated cases I have been able to get expert advise from our doctors in Amrita through our telemedicine facility. I feel that this is one of the cheapest methods to provide expert medical guidance in far flung remote areas in a country as vast as ours. For an ordinary doctor such consultation is the only proper means to reach a proper diagnosis.

Now as I head back to Kerala, I think on what I have gone through in these past few days and I can feel that I have grown from this experience.
– Dr. Nishank