WEST BENGAL: He survived on one-course meal a day and walked barefoot to school under the scorching sun, but Jayanta Mahato belonging to a Backward Class community, never forgot what he wanted: education and serving the poor.
Today, he is the block medical officer in Lalgarh in Jhargram district, which was once a Maoist hotbed. Mahato visits remote villages after duty hours and treats poor patients who find it difficult to visit a doctor in the crowded local state-run healthcare unit.
In his 30s now, Mahato had made up his mind years ago that he would never engage in private practice and treat people in exchange for money. He is happy he has kept his word.
“I don’t forget the oath that I took before joining the service. The oath says: ‘I will maintain the utmost respect for human life. I will not permit consideration of religion, nationality, race, party politics, or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient. I will serve my profession with conscience and dignity,” said Mahato.
Born in a family of small-time peasants, Mahato’s childhood was full of struggle. “We had 3-bigha land on which our four-member family survived. My mother is a homemaker and she even had to work in the fields to earn extra money for my education. She even had to sell rice, which was kept for our consumption, to arrange my school fees and other education costs,” he recounted.
The doctor, a resident of Manikpara village, had to walk to his primary school no matter how the weather was. While pursuing Class XI and XII, he somehow managed a bicycle to go to the high school which was 6km from his home. After taking coaching tuition from a centre in Jhargram, he appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination in 2012, completed MBBS, and joined the healthcare service in 2018.
His first posting was in Belpahari health centre, the area known as the epicentre of Maoist movement in West Bengal. Belpahari suffers from starvation, drought and malnutrition issues. “The first posting was a challenge to me. Shortly after I joined, Covid-19 outbreak started. We had no time to eat and sleep. The health centre was flooded with patients. After duty hours, I would visit villagers on my awareness campaign,” said Mahato.
In 2022, Mahato was transferred to Lalgarh in Binpur-I block. “Lalgarh is another backward region where malaria and diarrhea outbreaks are common. To control the diseases, intensive awareness is required” says Mahato. “I started travelling to remote pockets of the area to spread awareness about the precautions that should be taken to avoid the diseases”These diseases could be fatal for pregnant women. “They need extra care. I started teaching them how to use drinking water. After intensive awareness drive, our effort proved effective,” he added.
Mahato is now in-charge of five primary health centres in the block. Asked why he does not opt for private practice, the young doctor said, “I cannot think about it. I find spending time to with the poor is better than earning money.”
The doctor has earned a lot of respect. Says Fulrani Tudu, a resident of Ramgarh: “My 8-year-old son was suffering from high fever. My husband works in another district as a migrant labourer. I was not in a position to take my son to Lalgarh block hospital which was 11 km from my village. When the doctor ‘babu’ visited our village, I ran to him. He came over and examined my son. He made all arrangements to transport my son to the hospital. I brought my son back home after a week,” said the mother.