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He’s just been awarded the prestigious Dhanvantri award. The fact that Dr Suresh Advani finds a panacea for ailments from his wheelchair makes his achievement all the more exemplary. Sudeshna Chatterjee plumbs into the mind of the doctor, who has pioneered the bone marrow treatment for leukaemia

The doctor’s white coat was etched indelibly on his mind since he was eight. After all, that was the time he was diagnosed with polio. The constant contact with doctors had an unusual fallout: The little boy decided his life’s vocation – of becoming a doctor. And the fact that he was wheelchair-bound for life didn’t make a difference.

Meet 55-year-old Dr Suresh Advani, the director of medical oncology at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai. He’s the 31st winner of the Dhavantari award, the country’s highest medical award. The good doctor, who pioneered the bone marrow treatment for leukaemia in India, ironically, had been denied admission to any medical college as he was considered “unfit” for medical education. This, after ranking among the top 10 in his inter-science exams! “I wrote letters to every minister, and after three months, I was finally admitted to the Grant Medical College in Mumbai,” he recounts.

Even though he is inundated with calls from countless people daily, Dr Advani hasn’t succumbed to the heady I-am-God feeling. Does he ever feel that he has superhuman abilities? “Oh no,” is the swift reply, “Doctors have their limitations. In fact, we feel small when we see the amount of faith people have in us, considering we know so little about the subject,” he says.

Speaking about his specially, he says, “Cancer is a combination of many diseases. This makes it a peculiar condition, which a single stroke of discovery can’t wipe out. So much work still needs to be done.” Dr Advani has already published 550 papers on the subject in medical journals, and he nurses an ambition to set up a state-of-the art medical centre for oncology.

One wonders whether his busy schedule leaves him with any time to spend with his family. Wife Geeta, formerly a nurse with the Tata Memorial Hospital (where they met), laments that the entire family hardly ever goes for a holiday! But, she also helps him with his patients, especially in counselling.

Dr. Advani is happy that his daughter, Smita, is pursuing medicine. His son, Mohit though, has opted for computers.

At present, Dr Advani is busy reaching out to the public reaching out to the public with information about cancer. This includes facts about hygiene, which can greatly reduce the possibility of cervical cancer. He stresses that junk food and the absence of breast-feeding are responsible for the rise in cases of breast cancer.

Here’s one Dr Feelgood, who’s clearly married to his profession.

Source: The Times of India