Patients since childhood, they are all set to become doctors

Patients since childhood, they are all set to become doctors

Three Students With Cerebral Palsy Get Place In MBBS Course

Bharat.Yagnik@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:  13.12.2020

Doctors had warned Digvijay Rathwa’s parents that he may face mental disability when he grows up. Digvijay was dssiagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP), a congenital disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture due to abnormal brain development, often before birth.

Seventeen years later, Digvijay has all the doctors wrong and is set to become a doctor himself. He has secured admission in Vadodara’s government medical college.

Digvijay’s father, Sureshbhai Rathwa, a police sub-inspector posted near Savli town, told TOI, “My son had spinal cord disability due to which he could not stand on his legs as a child. It took extensive physiotherapy to make him use his legs. He still faces difficulty in sitting for a long period of time. For all the time we spent with doctors, we are ecstatic Digvijay will be a doctor himself.”

Interestingly, Digvijay has a classmate from Nadiad who can understand his battle against CP and the Herculean effort it may have taken him to secure a coveted seat in medical college. Nadiaid’s Sakshi Solanki, also suffers from CP and walks on her heels due the condition. She also faces immense difficulty in writing for long.

Turning ambidextrous to overcome pain

In fact, Sakshi Solanki became ambidextrous to overcome her pain on writing with one hand. “She cultivated the habit of writing with both hands to overcome fatigue,” said father Hasmukhbhai, a mill worker in Nadiad. He says Sakshi always dreamed of donning the white coat.

The third student with CP to have secured admission in MBBS is Surat’s Saloni Waghani. Like Digvijay and Sakshi, she too has a disability adjudged more than 40%. She too has difficulty in walking and her hands become stiff when she writes for long.

B J Medical College’s dean Pranay Shah said it was heartwarming to see children with CP securing admission in MBBS.

“Very few students with this disorder have medical courses as they face multiple challenges. The rise of these students is overwhelming,” said Dr Shah.