Doctor

When we started living in Tiger Grove the only other people staying
there were some tribals. I have nothing against them but they were not
educated at all. The standards of hygiene these people maintained were
very poor indeed. They often suffered health problems, both major and
minor. There were no doctors in Tiger Grove. Correction. There was
Doctor himself. Doctor was half-tribal by birth. We had no idea as to
whether he had any medical degree. But whenever the tribals had any
health problems, they called the Doctor. It was of not much use though.
The tribals scarcely had the money to buy his medicines. Sometimes
Doctor gave the tribals medicines free of cost. It did not help because
the tribals did not consider it necessary to take medicines as they
regarded the drugs alien to their culture. Only if a particular tribal
found the going very very tough, would he take a medicine or two given
by Doctor. All the tribals however respected the medicine-man greatly
and called him 'Doctor'. The rest of the people that's us also called
him Doctor. My father has recently been transferred to Tiger Grove as
the sole office-bearer of the revenue office. We are the only outsiders
staying in the area. When we arrived it was early spring. The weather
was really pleasant. In one month's time it began to rain regularly. My
younger sister goes to school on her bicycle every day. Tiger Grove is
in the hills of North Bengal and it rains quite hard except in winter.
One day when my sister was returning from school it began to rain cats
and dogs. It was quite cold too. By the time my sister reached home she
was shivering. Soon, she had high fever. My parents did not know what
to do. They decided to call Doctor. Doctor came immediately, dressed to
impress anyone who cared to look at him. He went to work immediately.
We noticed that he took out glass bottles with transparent liquids in
them. We did not know what these bottles contained. We were shocked
when he poured the contents of more than one bottle into a glass and
asked my mother to feed my sister from the glass. We were in quite a
fix. If the contents of the glass killed my sister we would have no one
else to blame but ourselves. Thinking quickly, my father decided to
take the chance. My mother fed my sister the medicine as instructed by
Doctor. In two days' time Minnie, my sister was on her feet. My parents
thanked the doctor profusely and offered any help that he needed. The
doctor appeared to be angry at this and said nothing. In a few days two
more people joined the revenue office. Their families joined them soon.
The rains continued unabated all through the month. A boy from one of
the new families contacted fever now. Acting on my father's advice,
Doctor was called to examine the patient. The condition of the boy was
rather serious. Doctor asked the family to take the boy to the district
hospital. The boys' parents asked for a referral letter. Doctor wanted
to avoid the matter and leave immediately. But the boys' family was
adamant. In the end the doctor had to actually run away from his
patient's house. The result of all this was tragic. The boy was
declared brought dead on arrival at the District Hospital. There was a
lot of trouble after this. The deceased boy's family accused Doctor of
being a quack. They said that Doctor had no medical degree and his
practice was completely illegal. A few days later a little girl from
the third non-tribal family in Tiger Grove fell sick. Despite initial
reluctance Doctor was summoned. He requested that the boy be
immediately removed to hospital. He also wrote a referral letter much
to the relief of his patient's family. The patient's father asked
Doctor to quote his registration number in his letter. Doctor did not
realize that he had quite willingly walked into a trap. The patient was
treated well at the referred hospital and recovered fast. Doctor's case
was passed on to the Medical Council. It was confirmed that his
registration number was fake. Investigations revealed that he was a
school pass. Doctor was arrested and put behind bars for seven years.