AN EVENT THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

No more patients' fees

In June 1950 I was sitting in a tin roofed hut without electricity which used to be my private clinic. A poor looking middle aged man with bare feet entered and asked me whether I was the doctor whom he had been advised to approach to treat his family.

My father had wanted me to practise in rural areas among people who had hardly any health service. Very few patients came to see me at the clinic. I had to make home visits. My fee for a home visit was five rupees (10p). Most of the patients never paid me; instead they offered me a cup of tea.

I realised that the poor farmer was in great distress. He asked me with …