Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Doctors at Chelakkara , seventy years back

Doctors   at Chelakkara , seventy years back
By
P.R.Ramachander



(One of my chelakkara   friends posted   an image  of a news item   about   the medical treatment  problems in my village , Chelakkara. My mind got in to the time machine and flew  back   to the olden times)
   MY mind again flew back to Chelakkara   before seventy years. We had  moderate treatment  facility  for most of the  small illness  in Chelakkara  during those times. But  if serious illness  comes only option was  prayer to god .  I still remember  one mama   telling another, “Avanukku  iraniyaavaam .Trusoorukku   eduthundu  POyirukka  , Ambada thaan”( He is suffering from Hiranya and has been taken to  TRichur .His chances  of coming back or slim). I also remember   the small pox epidemics that  used to sweep  the village  once in a while  causing death of   large number of people . WE had two important doctors practising allopathy   during those times and a few practising Ayurveda , I do not remember  any one practicing  homeopathy. Later days , a dentist used  come  in the evenings  and practice in Chelakkara.
   Dr,Antoni(Anthoni in our Malayalam drenched voice)  was only an LMP .It is not an exaggeration to say   that  more than 70% people of Chelakkara  of those days   got cured  of their illness  due to him. He knew   each and every Brahmin, their wives   and their children by name. WE were all generally poor   and so,  that kind  doctor used   to have credit account for each of the families.He used to  give some tablets   and a very bitter  mixture(containing lot of Epsom salt)   for almost all the illnesses. If people were seriously ill  , he used  to prescribe them medicines, help them purchase it through some  bus drivers  known to him from Trichur. I remember that if the family   did not have money to buy the medicine, he used to buy it and enter it in their loan account. My mother   was very ill during those days and   we children were   sent to him almost daily. He used to receive  us   with a smiling face , enquire about our welfare, console us  , give the needed  medicines  after entering  in the families  loan account .(These loans were repaid after we received Paddy after harvest , twice in a year)  If there was an emergency he used to rush with great speed  to that  house  in a jiffy. I remember a person drinking Kesrosine oil at night  by mistake that  the great doctor rushing to his  house at midnight. The village   during those   days were not electrified   and  as soon as it  become 7 PM , all lights used  to be put out . In spite of such a  tough situation the great doctor used   to help us all. Due to our very frequent visits, His wife Meriamma   was   also friendly with us . In these   seventy years , I have not seen a greater  , nobler   and more efficient doctor than him.
   WE had one more doctor called  DR.Madhava  Menon whose house   was adjoining   the  Brahmin Agrahara. I vaguely remember   that  he was  an M.B.B.S   and his charges   were slightly  more than DR.Anthony .Apart from that   it seems he used   to get angry on patients , if they   do not obey him.Since he was very near  Kizhakke Madam of the Gramam , Some people there  used to consult him. Even slightly rich people   used to prefer  him.Since I had never gone to him for treatment I do  not know whether  he kept loan account.
   There also used to be  a Sarkar  AAsupathri(Government hospital)  those days  just outside the village In MOhari Kunnu but Brahmins rarely visited  the hospital.I understand it has now grown up in to a much bigger  hospital.
 Vaidyan Krishnan  was one among us Brahmins    and used to have a  very big Ayurvedic shop in Angadi I undersatand his father  Narasimha Mama who was also a Vaidyan  migrated  to Chelakkara   from a  near by village . Since our home was  very near to his huse , we used to go and Consult his father  often  .In the ayurvedic Pharmacy  , some Asavams, Arishtams  , lehyam   and medicinal oils were   stocked. Since  they believed  in drinking Kashayam(Decoction)  during those days  Vaidyan Krishnan used   to write a detailed note  of the fruits,  roots, leaves  etc required  to prepare  the Kashayam  and used to give us also the materials. Our parents used to prepare  the Kashayam  and made us drink it, though  most of the Kashayams were  very bitter and had a  aweful aroma
  WE also used to have another  Ayurvedic doctor in the village . I vaguely remember his name was Madhava Varriar. He  was the poor man’s ayurvedic doctor of the village, I remember my   father  consulting him rather  than Vaidyan Krishnan.
      There  was also an immensely popular  vertinary  doctor in the village . Since for several  miles together   there was  no other vertinary doctor  , he was always  very busy.  He had a younger brother  who was  a doctor in Indian military  during those  days. When I was  about 15, he retired and settled  down in a nearby  village . I do not know his real name but  my father  used  to call him Katti  . My father  in law Dr.Vaidyanathan it seems practiced  for a few days  in the village   and because  people used  to call him  at odd hours , he discontinued   that practice   and  joined the  Tamil Nadu health department .
       One of the boys younger to me called  Venkidi , belonging to Puthan Madam   studied medicine   and  some how never came to practice  in the village .Dr.Krishnan Kutti  who belonged  to the village(again younger to me) is a famous doctor in Trichur.

     Since I have lost touch with my own village , I do not know whether  any body else   from the village became a doctor.

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