Everyone called him a
great healer but he merely wished to be known as a servant of God. His name was
Doctor Dharma and he was not a quack but a qualified MBBS doctor. Dharma had
lived in the Town of Arokiapet all his life except when he had gone to Madras
to pursue his interest in Medicine and study M.B.B.S. at the Government Medical
College there.
Even during his
childhood Dharma had been a very quiet boy and had not given any trouble either
to his poor parents who were barely able to provide for him or his simple small
town teachers who taught him during his formative years. Even when Dharma was
in Medical College he continued to remain quiet and barely spoke to anyone unless
he was spoken to. He passed Medical College and everyone expected Dharma to go
abroad for his professional pursuits as was the practice of his peers but Dharma
surprised everyone by wishing to return to his Home town and serve the poor of
his town.
Dharma was a
different kind of a doctor. In this day and age when doctors charge thousands
and lakhs of rupees to heal patients, Dharma would hardly charge a hundred
rupees to heal a patient. Even the worst illness would be healed within a
thousand rupees. Dharma believed that the medical profession was founded on the
premise of service and was not a business as was being practiced by most
doctors of his time.
Dharma’s treatment
methods too varied from that of others. Whenever a patient came to him for
treatment he would spend a lot of time listening to the patient explain what he
was suffering from and how he felt. Dharma would ask probing questions about
the patient’s family, his background and other things which any other doctor
would consider irrelevant to the case. Within half an hour of talking to the
patient, Dharma would make the patient feel so comfortable so much so that the
patient felt fifty percent cured by unburdening himself to the doctor.
Dharma never
prescribed any diagnostic testing. He did not believe in any form of testing
and a simple examination with his stethoscope, thermometer and torchlight would
be enough for him to diagnose the illness of the patient. He would make the
patient breathe deeply and listen to his breathing with his stethoscope. He
would then stick the thermometer under the tongue of the patient while opening
wide the eyelids of the patient and shining his torch into the pupils of the
patient after which he would finally prescribe the medicines for the patient.
Moreover, Dharma
never prescribed the medicines sold in the drug stores and pharmacies. He
procured his own medicines and handed them to the patient at the clinic. Dharma’s
first line of treatment would be a muscular injection followed by oral intake
of medicines.
The capsules and
pills which Dharma prescribed never had any name or markings on it. Whether it
was an ordinary cold and fever or the most chronic of cases Dharma’s regimen of
drugs was always the same. The most surprising part of it was that almost
ninety nine point nine percent of the cases treated by him where cured and even
the point zero one percent of the cases which were not cured would invariably
be because the patients did not have faith in the kind of medication prescribed
by him and therefore went to some other doctor.
Dharma’s name and
fame soon spread in the town where he lived. Very soon people from other nearby
towns and cities started bringing sick people to Dharma’s clinic. However the
case which pushed Dharma into the limelight was the treatment of the Mayor’s
wife by Dharma. The lady had been diagnosed with cancer and the doctors who
treated her had claimed that she only had one more year to live. The Mayor who
was really shocked wanted to have a second opinion and having heard of Dharma
from his watchman had taken his wife to his clinic. Within a week of treatment
the lady’s cancer cells went into remission and a month later she was completely
free of the dreaded disease. The Mayor was overjoyed and wanted to give Dharma
a huge fee but Dharma only accepted five hundred rupees as his fee which
further more impressed the Mayor.
The Mayor was also
the head of the rotary international in his town and decided to honour and
felicitate Dharma with the title of ‘The Noblest of Noble Doctors’. Dharma was
initially hesitant to accept the title but due to the persistence of the Mayor agreed
to attend the function and accept the title. The ceremony was held in the best five star
hotel of the town and Dharma felt completely out of place amidst the opulence
when he attended the function in his bush shirt, ill fitting trousers and
rubber flip flops. The assembled dignitaries were indeed impressed by the
simplicity and humility of the noble doctor. The media which was covering the
event in full strength was also impressed by him and a local television news
channel interviewed Dharma immediately after the ceremony.
During the interview,
the interviewer asked if Dharma was happy to be called The ‘Noblest of Noble
Doctors’ to which Dharma replied that he never considered himself noble or
worthy of such a title. The persistent interviewer wanted to know if there was
any secret medicine which Dharma was using, since all medication prescribed by
him was issued at his own clinic and not available in other drug stores and
pharmacies. Dharma replied negatively and the interviewer therefore asked
Dharma what it was that he was giving the patients. Dharma replied that he
merely gave the patients a pro-biotic injection and also some tablets which
contained vitamins, minerals or other necessary salts.
Dharma further
expounded that the human body was the most perfect of God’s creations and
illnesses to such a perfect body arose mainly in the minds of the individuals.
When the mind was assured that the body was being treated by a competent doctor it
automatically healed itself. The interviewer looked at Dharma with disbelief
and Dharma had to swear that he was telling the whole truth and nothing but the
truth.
The day after the
interview was aired on television Dharma came to his clinic at the usual time.
However, not a single patient came that day or ever after.
