Madurai :
There are many who practice medicine as profession. But, very few like Dr T Chellaiya stand out from the crowd. The 75-year-old old city doctor may be a man of a few words, but the medical community speaks more about him. They say that most of the doctors in the city approach him whenever they suffer from an ailment. Doctors who worked closely with him know his diagnosis will be simple and accurate. The general medicine practitioner who has put in 31 years of unblemished service in various government hospitals, has finally got his dues.
According to representatives of the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu he had been immaculate in his service and inspired many. However, he was not honoured by any awards. But now, the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu has proposed an award for Dr Chellaiya, which he will be receiving soon.
“It is only the second time since the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu instituted award for the medical practitioners who have rendered exemplary service to the people. In fact, we are honoured to felicitate him with the award,” said Dr K Senthil, vice-president of the council.
Apart from Chellaiya, five more doctors from the state including Dr George Abraham, a renowned nephrologist, Dr David Rajan, orthoscopy expert and Dr S Geethalakshmi, a microbiologist and presently the director of medical education will be honoured. Dr Chellaiya is the only doctor from the southern districts to get the award.
Chellaiya, a native of Salem, did his MBBS and MD in Madurai Medical College. He started working in Salem government hospital in 1965 where he worked for two years. He served in Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai for 29 years since 1969.
Dr M Ramesh, surgical oncologist, one of his students noted him as one of the best teachers Madurai Medical College has ever seen. He used to stay with the patients in the wards for at least 10 hours. He stood as an example by his hard work. The students who followed him inculcated his habits like treating others without any bias and doing the job without any remarks. The students of Dr Chellaiya possess unique characteristics inspired by him, he said. Dr Chellaiya has taught 20 batches of students from the Madurai Medical College. At the age of 75, he is still practicing in his modest clinic on Vakkil New Street in the heart of the city. Talking about young doctors, Dr Chellaiya said “They are very brilliant. The secret is we have to be sincere to the patients and not to the hospital. Doctor-patient relationship should be good.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / August 26th, 2014