KOCHI: Among the six languages that Dr Jacob Eapen handles with ease is Hausa, a language mainly spoken in the Chaud region of Nigeria. How Hausa and Swahili had become dear to Jacob Eapen sums up the nearly five decades-long professional journey of this physician, who is a 1975-batch alumnus of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
“In the early ‘80s, I worked in Tanzania and Nigeria after completing post-graduation in Pediatrics from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. I picked up Swahili while working at Aga Khan hospital, Dar-Es-Salam. That was useful when I shifted to Sokoto University in Nigeria. I learnt Hausa from there,” Eapen told TNIE. At the Nigerian hospital, Jacob had to handle over a hundred cases a day.
“At first, I had a translator. Then I realised that using a translator to communicate would take double the time. This meant I end up seeing only 50 people in the time meant for 100. So, I started to learn the language. Most of the patients were poor and illiterate and they could communicate only in their mother tongue,” he said.
For Eapen, who had refused handsome job offers for the work satisfaction that comes from serving the needy, learning a new language was a minor challenge. “Back then, in such places, even toothpaste was a luxury. But working there was the best medical education I could have earned,” he said.
The experience in Africa helped Jacob to fetch a coveted job as the UN high commissioner for refugees in the Philippines in 1988-89, where he worked among displaced refugees, addressing their health concerns and other basic needs. He worked alongside Shashi Tharoor, who was a senior UN official then.
Later in his career, Eapen moved to the US. There too, he preferred to work in community hospitals run by the local governments. “Those were the clinics where people who don’t have insurance coverage end up. You can spot people from all sorts of backgrounds there,” he said.
His silent, dedicated work at several community hospitals in California was rewarded in 2004 when he got elected to the board of directors of Washington Hospital, a multi-speciality hospital serving the tri-cities of Fremont, Newark and Union City in California with annual revenue exceeding 1.5 billion USD. He got re-elected to the position four times, by improving the majority each time. Apart from this governance role, Eapen is currently working as Director of Alameda Health System, Oakland.
Among the dozens of coveted awards he has bagged is the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, given to distinguished American citizens like former presidents and Nobel Prize winners.
Predictably, Dr Jacob Eapen’s concerns on this Health Day are more about our planet than our health. “Our planet is getting affected by our collective actions. But people in poorer countries like the farmers in Africa bear the brunt of it. They are paying a big prize for the luxury enjoyed by the West. The doctors who are supposed to treat the planet are turning out to be not so good doctors! The planet needs a good healer,” said Eapen.
Dr Jacob Eapen belongs to Kurvankonam in Thiruvananthapuram and visits his hometown every year to spend time with his mother. He lives in Fremont in California with his wife Shirley, daughter Dr Sandhya and son Dr Naveen.