Vyasarpadi’s ₹5 doc no more

Vyasarpadi’s ₹5 doc no more

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

Chennai:16.08.2020

Dr V Thiruvengadam, famous as Vyasarpadi’s ‘5 rupee doctor’, died of cardiac arrest at the Southern Railway Hospital on Saturday. He was 70 and his survived by his wife T Saraswathi, daughter T Preethi and son T Dipak.

Confirming that he didn’t have Covid-19, Preethi, a doctor herself, said he had been admitted to the hospital on August 13 after he complained of chest pain. “We were arranging for his discharge today when he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and breathed his last at 12.05pm.”

Pointing out that she was yet to decide on how to continue her father’s clinic at V Kalyanapuram, she said he had remained at home since March, giving advice over phone to some of his regulars. An alumnus of Government Stanley Medical College, Dr Thiruvengadam shot to fame after the release in 2017 of Tamil movie ‘Mersal’ in which hero Vijay plays a ‘5 rupee doctor’.

S Boobalan, the doctor’s assistant for the past 25 years, said he joined as a juvenile and started distributing tokens to patients at the clinic that was opened from 7.30pm to midnight. Boobalan, who dropped out of school after Class X, said, “He charged ₹5 per patient when I joined. It was ₹2 per patient when he started the clinic 45 years ago.”

Every day, more than 150 people came to consult Dr Thiruvengadam who often gave out free medicines and even gave some of them money, he said. “It’s a great loss to residents of the area.”

M Nathamuni, a retired LIC staffer and a relative, said, “Thiruvengadam, the only son among five children, was inspired to become a doctor by his uncles A Murugesan and A Kanniappan, both siddha practitioners.

His wife Saraswathi is a former railway employee, while his son Dipak is a final year medical student in Mauritius.