On Sunday morning, streets of Sidhapudur in Coimbatore were jam-packed as people came in thousands to pay their homage to the ‘20 Rupees Doctor’, Dr. V Balasubramaniam.
Balasubramaniam was known for charging Rs 20 from his patients and the man set up various clinics in his tenure as an ESIC employee. He had made a great place in people’s hearts and the same was apparent by the number of people who came to light candles and offer prayers after his death on Friday.
Dr. V Balasubramaniam joined Employee’s State Insurance Commission (ESIC) as a medical officer after completing his MBBS. During his tenure, whenever he got a transfer, he would open clinics for the poor and would charge minimal fees of Rs 2, which gradually increased to Rs 20.
After setting up clinics at Thirunelveli and Chennimalai, Dr. V Balasubramaniam settled in Coimbatore and operated his clinic full-time for seven years. He would open the clinic at 8:30 am and used to work until 10 pm. On an average, he used to attend around 150-200 patients per day. He only charged for injections, medicines and dressing of wounds and if a patient had to visit him more than once for the same problem, no money was charged by him.
Dr Balasubramaniam was called the "20-rupees doctor" because he never charged his patients more than Rs 20 for treating them. https://t.co/DkxfMlSOnQ
— D.Muthukrishnan (@dmuthuk) November 20, 2016
A patient said that Dr. V Balasubramaniam attended poor patients for free and if there was an emergency, he would come and cater the patients even at midnight.
“There wasn’t and there cannot be another god for us like the doctor. So many doctors are concerned with making money, but he was never bothered about that,” said another patient.
Dr. V Balasubramaniam’s granddaughter, Sindhu, traveled from Bengaluru to Coimbatore for his grandfather’s funeral, said that the family has been receiving calls all day from his believers. “For the service, he has done for people, I can see so many people here. At home, we can’t see his presence so much. But I can see his presence in these people’s eyes today” she said.
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21 November 2016
Rohan Jaitly