KALPETTA: Some of his patients lived so deep inside the forests that reaching a hospital was a struggle for them. Some did not even recognise the symptoms of the diseases they were battling. For Dr K Prabhakaran, these were not reasons to wait for patients to seek treatment, but reasons to take healthcare to their doorsteps. For 33 years, he travelled beyond hospital corridors, into remote tribal settlements and homes across Wayanad, earning the affection of people who saw in him not just a doctor, but someone they could turn to in times of distress.
As he retires from government service, the first medical graduate from the Kuruma community leaves behind a career defined as much by compassion as by medical service.
His own journey to becoming a doctor was an unlikely one.
Born to Krishnan and Janaki at Edakkal House in Ambalavayal, Prabhakaran studied at the Government School in Ambalavayal and St Mary’s College, Bathery.
With little guidance about career choices, he initially pursued BSc Chemistry before discovering the MBBS entrance examination through his classmates.
“I had no mentors to guide me. Nobody had even told me about the MBBS entrance examination. Biology was my favourite subject, so I had chosen that group in pre-degree. It was only during my degree studies that I learnt about the entrance examination and decided to apply along with my classmates,” he recalls.
Getting into Kozhikode Medical College was only the beginning. “For the first few months, I found it difficult to follow the syllabus. But slowly, I managed to catch up,” he says.
After beginning his career at Varur Primary Health Centre in 1995 and serving at the ESI Hospital in Kannur, he returned to Wayanad. His 18 years at Ambalavayal Community Health Centre brought him face to face with two contrasting sides of life: death through the postmortem unit and the struggle for survival through the mobile medical unit.
His visits to tribal settlements revealed how far healthcare still had to travel. “It is only when we enter the forests and visit tribal villages that we understand their hardships. Many people are not even aware of the diseases they are suffering from. On several occasions, we had to take patients to hospitals against their wishes to ensure they received treatment. Healthcare has improved, but awareness is still lacking,” he says.
Having conducted more than 2,000 postmortem examinations, he also helped strengthen the service in Wayanad, reducing the need to send bodies to Kozhikode Medical College and the delays that followed. “There were only a few doctors willing to undertake postmortem examinations here. I learnt general postmortem procedures because families should not have to wait for days to complete the process,” he says.
He plans to continue voluntary healthcare activities and public service, alongside farming.