Chapter 4
At the age of 35 Dr Kamalkanth was a world renowned Paediatrician specialising in infantile surgery. He had worked at the Guy hospital in London and subsequently joined a well known hospital of , child trust group showing amazing surgical skills to cure children. His services received excellent reviews and he was awarded Fairchild medal for services rendered by him.
He nursed a desire to establish in India, an academy of surgical excellence to train Indian doctors in advanced surgical methods and procedures. .once he found a good sponsor he took leave of England and landed at Hyderabad to set up his academy. .His concepts were new , teaching methods were advanced and facilities offered excellent training. He brought in imaging systems, fibre optics camera system, keyhole surgery techniques, local desensitisers to avoid complicated anaesthetics , remote monitored simulators into teaching labs, so that doctors could train in real time situations and gain formidable skills. The exercise proved to be great boon to a society starved off credible surgical skills in a growing population domain.
He married a girl from an influential family and the couple went on to build a name for their unique skills and enterpreunership.The result was a chain of hospitals all over AP , nothing big but every one compact, well managed systems using locally available skills and resources. These hospitals became extremely popular with common man as there was no exploitation or commercialisation. Service and trust combined and thrived.
At Hyderabad, they added child care unit to the hospitals to help working mothers to keep their children safe while they were busy at work. .This became popular as children got good food, medical attention and sound basic education. Shanta, the wife of Dr kamalkant was the brain behind the idea and she took every effort to make it a big success.
Dr kamalkant enjoyed his work and cherished the contribution he and his family were making towards the society. They steered a clear course avoiding too much public attention, political leanings and turf warfare. They cultivated an image of social workers and stayed away from being accused as commercial exploiters as most corporate houses in medical domain, were known for.
The couple had two sons. Like all working mothers, shanta put her children also in the same child care centre showing to everybody that her confidence and pride in the enterprise she had started.
The disaster struck one day with out any warning. SIX CHILDREN DIED IN THE CENTRE AND FOUR MORE DIED IN THEIR HOMES AFTER BEING TAKEN HOME IN THE EVENING BY THEIR MOTHERS. This was the opportunity eagerly waited for by the distractors and low profile business rivals of Dr Kamalkant. There were many who did not like the popularity and patronage enjoyed by the couple in the eyes of society.. They donned the hats of moral policemen and began to rise a big stink about the incident. A shocked doctor soon found out that the cause of death was poisoning of milk powder used by the centre and supplied by a disgruntled vendor. He was not even allowed to disclose his findings, but was subjected to intense criticism in public domain .The media blew it into a big thing, whipping up an uncalled for public out cry. In all hue and cry raised by the media, it was conveniently forgotten that one of the victims was Doctor’s own younger son. Police and municipal authorities moved fast and in a fast and rather harsh procedure, slammed the doctor into a cell The doctor was dragged all over courts, his licence to practice was revoked and all his hospitals spread across the state were taken over Shanta fought tooth and nail but authorities were in no mood to settle or listen to reason. Shanta was unhappy with the way doctor had reacted to the crisis and legal procedures he took up. She moved out of his house to be with her parents while the doctor languished in the jail. In a matter of 6 months, a celebrity doctor was cut down to the size of a petty criminal out to make a fast buck.
The police investigation did find out about the contaminated milk supplied by a vendor who wanted to teach the purchase manager a lesson for not increasing budgetary sanctions for milk supply. Government used this fact to prove irresponsibility on the part of management in this case, Dr Kamal kant. His reputation as a social well wisher was tarnished and he was labelled as another capitalists bent on exploitation and profiteering at the cost of human lives. Kamalkant was hoping that his wife would move the matters to higher courts, but she lost interest in him when he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment by a determined jury who had pre judged him based on media reports and sensational reviews in the press. Reason went for a toss and the doctor took one blow after another in silence.
One property that surprisingly remained un touched by the authorities was an unregistered, partly completed hospital building built for the doctor by a friendly builder. One of the doctors from the childcare centre approached Dr Kamalkant in the jail and struck a deal with the doctor in total secrecy. The deal was that the premises would be kept in safe custody by the young doctor, so that when Dr Kamalkant came out of jail after serving his term, he will have a place to live and rebuild his future. Kamalkant signed the papers in good faith and young Dr Shankar Reddy started a new career with great faith and promise of carrying on with good work started by kamalkant.
The doctor never met Shankar Reddy again