PUNJAB: In Punjab’s Moga district, Rajinder Singh Khote or better known as ‘Medicine Man’ has been helping patients suffering from TB, HIV, cancer and diabetes for the last 14 years. 42-year-old Khote runs a computer typing and legal forms shop at the judicial complex at Nihal Singh Wala in Moga and helps patients with limited financial means.
Till date, Khote has helped over 40,000 patients and since the death of his father and wife, he now devotes 80 per cent of his time to the patients who need support. Khote has covered slum areas of five districts in Chandigarh for the last 14 years by giving them medicines, food and also taking care of TB, HIV and cancer patients.
“It was 14 years ago and I was buying fruits when I saw a man who wasn’t looking well trying to buy fruits. Something in me just couldn’t stop but help this man, so I bought him fruits. The man thanked me profusely and told me that he was suffering from cancer and had no money to buy fruits. I was so touched by his plight that I took his address and used to send him fruits and milk daily but unfortunately, he died after two months,” said Khote.
Khote who couldn’t study after Class 12 due to personal circumstances, started his computer typing shop soon after quitting school. It has been 20 years since he has been running this shop and he has spent over 45 per cent of his earnings from the shop helping poor patients and arranging food and medicines for them. He is also now a Ni-kshay Mitra under the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan in Punjab and has volunteered to support the entire district of Moga.
Since the day he helped a cancer patient buy fruits, Khote decided that nobody should die due to lack of medicines and food. So, he started visiting both government and private hospitals nearby and found that there were several patients who couldn’t afford to buy medicines and food.
“I took the doctor’s prescription from these patients and bought them medicines besides food and fruits,” he said. Khote has now set up an organized system to help the people in the slums of five districts including Moga, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Barnala and Faridkot. He has divided the districts day-wise.
“I start at 7 am every day on my scooter and visit 15 government and private hospitals daily and come back around 8 pm. As I visit hospitals, the doctors give me the names, addresses and ailments of the patients who need help after which I distribute the medicines to them, besides packed food, biscuits, bread, dalia and dry milk packets,” Khote said.
Khote has lists of all TB patients of three blocks in Moga which has been provided to him by the district TB officer. There are more than 400 TB patients in this district. “I give them a food kit which has a tray of eggs, black grams, Dalia, mix lentils, rice, biscuit and four kg flour besides other medicines including multivitamins and proteins. Each kit costs me around Rs 700 besides paying for their travel,’’ he says.
Khote also takes care of around 100 HIV patients. “I give multi-vitamins, proteins, iron tablets besides dry milk packets, Dalia, rice by making kits and thus 100 such kits a month each costing around Rs 400,” he says.
He also helps 300-odd poor diabetic patients as he buys them medicines like insulin injections.
Apart from that, he also provides milk packets to pregnant women and small poor children in the slum areas of the city.