The wheelchair doctor will see you now

It was in medical school in the 1940s that Dr Manohar Dole began to lose his hearing A fit young man the ophthalmologist would soon be diagnosed with otitis mediamdasha recurring ear infection that can potentially lead to deafness But that didnrsquot stop the good doctor in his tracks in Maharashtrarsquos Narayangaon where he conducted monthly free eye camps in talukas like Ambegaon Khed and ShirurHe also dedicated 40 years to the building and nurturing of an eye hospital that offered nocost surgeries to the less privileged and those neglected by their birth families This year when Dr Dole is in his late rsquo90s he was conferred the Padma Shri for the work he put into this hospital and the lakhs of rural and tribal lives he touchedThe nonagenarian is among a number of illustrious doctors living with disabilities who have devoted their lives to providing medical caremdashprivatised and charitablemdashand educating future generations For some their disability is a catalyst to heal those with the same condition for others it is a reality they negotiated as they lived full satisfying lives in service of others A limiting niggling issue common to their varied journeys is that of discrimination at the handsof institutionsDr Rajan TD and Dr Harshvardhan Bhamaremidday visited the offices of established clinicians in Mumbai and New Delhi who are disabled to learn about why they ventured into medicine and the confidence their patients put in them We found stories of academic excellence legal cases filed in the long fight for rights and introspection about personal abilityPurvi Savla is something of a marvel in Maladrsquos Evershine Nagar The homoeopath has been an abiding presence in the neighbourhood for 28 years where her patients have included multiple generations of families This writer has memories of the visually impaired doctor emerging from her car and walking determinedly to her clinic where she was supported in her work by an assistant doctor and compounder ldquoThere was a timerdquo Dr Savla recalls ldquowhen I used to travel to work by trainmdasheven during rush hour Irsquove fallen on the platform a few times but thatrsquos never stopped me from showing up at workrdquoIt was in Class 9 that Dr Savla decided she would pursue homoeopathy encouraged by her father The years that followed were marked to some extent by hostility Her college professors were neither keen to award her admission nor were they enthused to teach her ldquoMy confidence began to dipmdashthis was also a period when I had very few friends Some of my batchmates and seniors were encouraging of me but the encouragement didnrsquot exceed the overall discouragementrdquo she saysPicNishad AlamDr Savlarsquos practice took off about three years after she first began her growth is premised on strengthening her other senses as well as her knowledge She is pragmatic about the impediments caused by the lack of vision especially in adopting newer softwares that have not been made more accessible to medical professionals such as herself But her disability hasnrsquot come in the way of diagnoses ldquoI use a process I was taught in college I isolate myself and focus on the patientrsquos symptomshellip Children I believe make for better patients They donrsquot lie about their symptoms out of fear of the outcomerdquo she explainsAn observation that many disabled doctors share is that their circumstances may make them more approachable and empathetic in the eyes of patients but the success of their practice is ultimately bolstered by their commitment to being good medical care providers Dr Harshvardhan Bhamare is the preferred doctor at many of the setups where he consultsmdashwhere the OPD tends to be quite busy It was his background as a polio survivor that prompted Dr Bhamare to take up neurology as a specialisationldquoIrsquom able to objectively assess my own skills because of patient feedback Lives saved and successful cases of recovery reaffirm my abilities as a doctor These examples are particularly helpful on difficult days when I am burdened by other problems or when managing my disability can seem exhaustingrdquo says Dr Bhamare But even a popular physician like him still has a handful of potential patients who may respond with reservation or scepticism when they learn of his conditionSadly the recognition won by doctors who live with disabilities hasnrsquot curbed the challenges students continue to face today Young clinicians who spoke to this writer revealed the pressure from authorities to hide preexisting conditions like diabetes or epilepsymdashto both the patients they treat at teaching hospitals as well as their own peers And those whose productivity was perceivably affected by a disability were asked to quit residency programmes or switch specialisationsSome medicos like Dr Rajan TD make prudent choices to ensure career longevity Diagnosed with polio before he could turn two the dermatologist is attuned to using crutches with ease He may have been limited by the staircases on campus as he pursued his degree but nothing could keep Dr Rajan away from the operation theatre He considered cardiology and orthopaedics but knew that he may not be seen as the right candidate when having to tend to emergency cases ldquoPathology was recommended to me but I chose dermatology instead I desired a life committed to interactions with humans not machinesrdquo he explainsIf Dr Rajan has doggedly pitched charitable initiatives for the disabled especially children it is because his own journey is characterised by perseverance ldquoMy parents wanted me to be on the move all the time They presented medicine as a way to be helpful to othersrdquo he saysAs he split time across four clinics in his 32yearold career the dermatologist was equally committed to being a lifelong activist When mobility became a pressing concern as he embarked on his own practice Dr Rajan wrote to motor companies seeking a model that would suit him and others like himmdashand Maruti Suzuki stood up to the occasionIt is the same activistrsquos spirit that pushed the Andheribased practitioner to fill the gaps in Indiarsquos disability rehab network ldquoFor 20 years Irsquove had a ready plan for a disability clinic It was under the Sneh Deep Trust that six of my peers and I set up that the blueprint materialised We work with children with special needs to help them become selfsufficient by giving them appliances like ear implantsrdquo the dermatologist sharesFor Dr Satendra Singh a physiologist and professor at the University College of Medical Sciences amp GTB Hospital the road to advocacy for fellow doctors was one that began with his own struggles After his MD when he applied for a job in the teaching subcadre of the central health services Dr Singhmdashwho was diagnosed with polio in his infancymdashreceived no response Despite the then three per cent reservation for candidates with locomotor disability in the lower limbs many candidates like him were being denied jobs His subsequent legal battle spanning across four years led to a favourable court judgement which opened up hundreds of jobs in the teaching and nonteaching subcadres to doctors living with disabilitiesldquoDisabled doctors have to prove their competency throughout their college and residency years My experience made me realise that we have to keep proving themselves over and overrdquo rues Dr Singh who founded Doctors with Disabilities Agents of Change The platform comprises 250 medical professionals from across the country Since his groundbreaking case he has been part of a number of advocacy initiatives to challenge limiting guidelines which exclude individuals who may have lost a finger or those who have haemophilia or dyslexia from practising medicineForemost in his priorities now is changing the way medicine itself views disabilities ldquoAnother important change was in our curriculummdashwe still see disability as something abnormal that needs to be fixed But this is not true We conceptualised disability competencies and rights and eight of these are included in the new syllabusrdquo Dr Singh shares He says that the bias against disabled individualsrsquo capabilities exists among the general publicmdashbut also healthcare providers ldquoBoth automatically assume that anyone who is wheelchair user is a patient We want to change that attitude to show that a wheelchair can enable careers in medicinerdquo the physiologist explainsAre the laurels won by medical professionals like Dr Dole or Mumbairsquos reputed oncologist and Padma Bhushan winner Dr Suresh Advani able to cause an impact on the ground level Dr Singh remains sceptical since policy makers within medicine themselves arenrsquot involving disabled stakeholders He cites the example of pioneering rehabilitation expert Mary Varghese a paraplegic woman popularly known as the lsquowheelchair surgeonrsquo ldquoHer background seems to be invisibilised and forgotten by those who are now taking the specialisation forwardrdquo the physiologist observes ldquoItrsquos time that we begin to consider the value of lived experience among doctors and how it can enrich their expertiserdquo04 per centSeats assigned to disabled candidates from a total of 5 per cent as per data from 2021 from the AIIMS entrance exam