Street Doctor : The Young India

Kartikey Sehgal

This doctor operates from a Maruti Van parked on a busy evening street in Andheri. He shakes a bottle, opens it and puts a few drops inside a tiny plastic container that contains small and round white pills. Reminds you of homoeopathy, doesn’t it?

The poster on one side of the van announces the treatments offered; Weight-gain, weight-loss, hair loss, alcohol addiction, headache and half-headache (migraine).

This doctor takes approximately five minutes to prescribe you some medicines. So if you are addicted to alcohol, walk to this van and take some pills home. Follow the pill-plan religiously and you’d have cured yourself without visiting the alcoholics’ anonymous group or a psychiatrist.

The doctor operates his mobile hospital within a hundred metres of a police chowki and does not give you a receipt for any purchase. I met a patient of this doctor and started a conversation.

This muscular gentleman has just purchased a cough syrup and at least five other medicines from the doctor. He tells me that he suffers from occasional throat infection.

How long has the problem affected him?

It started six years ago.

He takes some common syrup for temporary relief. He is now trying homoeopathy to prevent any side effects and to look for a long lasting cure. He knows nothing about the medicines he has purchased. The Astharex syrup is dated October 2007 and is meant for asthma patients.

I tell him to consult a doctor who could suggest an X-Ray and diagnose his problem correctly.

“But it is just a throat problem, not a chest problem.”

“Throat infections can lead to chest infections and six years is a long time.”

He worriedly asks me if he should really approach a certified doctor instead of taking the medicines at hand.

A few minutes later, he returns the medicines, takes his money back and departs.

Street Doctor