IDUKKI: When a 64-year-old man who suffered a massive heart attack was brought unconscious to a primary health centre in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi district, Dr Mohammed Rafiq knew there was little chance of the patient surviving a four-hour journey to the nearest medical college.
Not willing to take any chances, Rafiq intubated and stabilised the patient before administering thrombolytic therapy, a clot-busting treatment. The man was saved.
The incident earned the 34-year-old doctor from Idukki the moniker of “Kerala doctor” in the village. Now, Rafiq, a postgraduate in family medicine, is preparing to return to his home district, where he hopes to serve in the government health system or start a small hospital if that does not materialise.
“My dream has always been to work among the people of Idukki. Villages need doctors who can provide comprehensive care without sending every patient to a distant hospital.”
Rafiq’s decision to specialise in family medicine is rooted in his childhood. Growing up near the district hospital in Cheruthoni, he often saw ambulances carrying critically ill patients to Kottayam as advanced treatment was unavailable locally.
After completing MBBS from Azeezia Medical College in Kollam, he returned to Idukki and worked at the medical college for four years and at the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) hospital in Painavu for another two.