‘A clinic can’t close, even if there’s a pandemic’

‘A clinic can’t close, even if there’s a pandemic’

Paul John@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad: 01.07.2020

For 46 years, rain or shine, riots or peacetime, there has hardly been a day that Dr Dinesh Shah, 71, did not turn up at his dispensary at Raja Mehta ni Pol in Kalupur. The Covid-19 pandemic has not been any different.

During the lockdown, Shah travelled from his home near Dharnidhar Derasar to see his patients in the walled city every day. “Why should a doctor be so scared of Covid. It’s a viral disease. Precaution is key. Symptomatic treatment, prompt action a must. I say this to my patients,” says Shah.

When Shah saw that his patients were in panic about the pandemic, he stuck to his clinic schedule. “A doctor’s clinic can’t shut. There are people with co-morbid conditions, children who need vaccination, the elderly who need to be referred to specialists, how do we ignore them? You see fear and stigma kills more than a disease. A doctor must not hide in such times. We have all taken an oath,” says Shah.

Shah used to live at the nearby Patasha ni Pol when he first opened the clinic in 1974. An MMBS from NHL Medical College, Shah remembers how he used to open his clinic during riots in the 1970s, the 1985 anti-reservation riots, the Navnirman movement and even during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.