Local Doctor Leaves to Save Lives
created: 11/23/2007 5:52:23 PM
updated: 11/23/2007 10:27:40 PM
By Kay Quinn
KSDK - It's a story that will have you questioning what it really means to be successful and fulfilled in work and in life.
A local doctor is closing her West County medical practice so she can care for the poor and sick half a world away.
Dr. Santosh Gupta is at the pinnacle of her profession. Her young patients, many with diabetes or other metabolic problems, consider her part of the family.
"She helps me get better," said Elizabeth Behan, on a recent visit see Dr. Gupta.
For 32 years, this pediatric endocrinologist has treated the children of St. Louis. She and her husband have raised two children. But she's giving it all up for a 100 year old hospital that serves the poor in Haridwar, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India.
"It's a 150 bed hospital but on a given day there are 300 patients, if you count the patients on the bed and under the bed," says Dr. Gupta.
She's volunteered in India before. But it was her daughter who found RKM Hospital while on a volunteer mission. The facility is unlike any you will ever see in the U.S.
Dr. Gupta says initially her decision to work in India was a difficult one. She was overwhelmed by the poverty and questioned whether she could work in the hospital.
She called her daughter, Sandhya, with her doubts.
"I said I think I made a mistake," recalls Dr. Gupta of that phone call with Sandhya. "She said do you have a chair? I said yes. She said, the fabric is torn? I said yes. She said you have a table? I said yes. She said, the paint is chipping? Yes. She said, is it clean? I said yes, it is."
"She said just give yourself three weeks and you'll get used to it, believe me you won't see it," said Dr. Gupta. "And three weeks later, I didn't notice it."
As inspired and energized as she is by her new calling, Dr. Gupta is sad to leave her patients here.
"It's very hard. There's part of me that says I with I could do both," says Dr. Gupta.
Many now write her notes and bring her donations.
"One little girl has decided to collect money for diabetic in India," says Dr. Gupta, "and I can just imagine every time they put a penny in there, they were thinking about helping a diabetic in india."
But her heart is also with her patients in India. Like a young woman named Poonam who Dr. Gupta saved from a diabetic coma on her last trip.
"She said why do you have to go back?" recalled Dr. Gupta. "And I said I'm not going back, I'll be back in January. And she said its a long time, so it's that kind of thing."
So she keeps in touch long-distance and worries about the hospital, thousands of miles away.
"I heard last week that they had to close the ICU and neonatal ICU because of lack of nurses."
It may seem like the ultimate sacrifice. But Dr. Gupta says she's doing this for purely personal reasons. Giving it all up, because by serving others, she is fulfilled.
"I just like the idea of working where I forget myself," says Dr. Gupta. "That's the most reward, that I get so engrossed that I just forget about myself."
It's a living example of the power of the human connection.
Dr. Gupta and her husband plan to leave for Haridwar in January. They'll stay at least four months this next time, but and plan to return each year for at least six months.
Dr. Gupta and her husband have started a foundation to increase awareness about the epidemic of diabetes in low-income communities in India.
It's called Manav Seva Foundation: Service to Humanity. It's objectives also include providing practical instruction for the prevent, early detection, and treatment of diabetes and heart disease for low-income patients in India and to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas of that country.
To learn more about the foundation, e-mail Dr. Gupta at santoshgupta@charter.net. ...
As I noted previously, too often it seems that only foreign organizations, particularly Christian groups, undertake humanitarian efforts in India. The RKM Hospital, where Dr. Gupta will work, is run by the Ramakrishna Mission. This story, which was broadcast on St. Louis's KSDK TV channel, provides the opportunity for many to learn about homegrown humanitarian efforts in India.
We wish Dr. Gupta and her husband success in their new endeavor!
