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| Mohan Kumar Y.S, Kasaragod |
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In the rented
room of a clinic, he used to be the one man medical delivery system. Once he used to charge Rs.2 as consultation
fee but made it free later on. Later he
had to open another clinic in Swarga as he was moved by the plight of a mother
who had to carry her child on her shoulders for 4 kilometers to his clinic.
But what
changed his role in society from a dispensing doctor to an activist was the
acute increase in various deadly diseases in his area. At first he did not understand that the villain
was the poison Endosulphan being sprayed on the trees of Plantation Corporation
from helicopters.
Painstakingly
and meticulously, he collected data about the increase in morbidity in the area
and wrote an article in the Kerala Medical Journal in 1997. It took another 3 years for the world at large to become aware
of the social and health cost of the quarter century old aerial spraying of
pesticide.
Yet, 20 years after that expose, the sufferings of the
victims continues without much support from Government. Many undeserving persons have received monetary
benefits while genuine ones continue to be neglected. The promise of a medical college in the area remains
a dream. Even the basic infrastructure
of roads presents a pitiable picture.
Dr.Mohana Kumar, who is a member of the Endosulphan cell,
has stopped going to the meetings. His words do not carry much value in the
deliberation of bureaucrats, who get their sitting fee and allowances. So, as his father had once advised him, he
sticks to his dharma of serving the villagers.
