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Dr. Arun Patil - The
only Hindu Unani doctor in Mahasarshtra |
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 The
Renaissance of Unani Medicine has begun:
"Health is not the
subject of the Central Government alone. Nor of the State
Government. It is in fact a concurrent ...Read
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Akkalkuwa (Nandurbar, Maharashtra):
On our
maiden visit to Akkalkuwa, the town near the Maharashtra-Gujarat
border that has a chain of education institutions founded by Maulana
Ghulam Vastanvi we were roaming the streets when a signboard having
a Hindu doctor’s name with a BUMS degree stuck our foot. A Hindu and
BUMS? It was almost impossible. For, the medium of instruction in
BUMS - a recognized medical degree course to practice Unani
medicines is Urdu and having a Hindu with a reading and writing
skills of the language is no less than a miracle nowadays. We
stepped inside the dispensary only to be greeted by a young doctor
surrounded by a dozen patients. We had to wait for half an hour more
before we were disclosed the interesting accounts of how a Hindu boy
became the only Unani doctor in Maharashtra.
Dr. Ramchandra was
the only medical practitioner in Akkalkuwa. Though he had not
graduated from any medical college, the Resident Medical
Practitioner (RMP) status he had earned after working for over
fifteen years under a doctor at Lalitpur near Jhansi was enough to
pull the patients to his modest clinic. After his younger son Arun
Patil finished BEMS - a certificate course in electropathy
treatment, more than forty years of medical practice by Dr.
Ramchandra had set the stage for him to continue medical practice
without struggling. Arun Patil now a BEMS doctor joined his father
Dr. Ramchandra, a RMP.
The things were
right in place, however, Dr. Ramchandra’s elder son Nanasaheb Patil
urged his younger brother to give a recognized medical course a try.
Coincidentally, when the trio was deliberating on the matter Maulana
Vastanvi decided to introduce BUMS – a medical degree course to
practice Unani medicines in Akkalkuwa. They immediately decided to
go for the course but when they approached the college authorities
for admission, they were told that passing Urdu as a subject in SSC
exam is compulsory for everyone seeking the admission.
“Though I had
cleared my HSC exams with Science stream scoring good marks, never
in my life had I touched Urdu as a subject”, Arun Patil recalls. It
was a real hurdle for them but the trio remained committal and tried
to find ways to come out of this problem.
Finally they
approached Bhika Chandu Khatik, a respected figure known in
Akkalkuwa for his skills in the Urdu language. Khatik was also
regarded as an Urdu poet used to arranging Mushaira in the town. The
meeting with Khatik was a blessing in disguise for the trio. He
readily agreed to teach the Urdu language to Arun Patil. Meanwhile
the college administration learning that a Hindu boy was willing to
take admission for the BUMS course showed leniency and gave him
conditional admission.
After six months
of vigorous practice Arun Patil though leniently succeeded in
reading, writing and understanding the language. Few more sessions,
and he was ready to write the Urdu language SSC paper. “To
everyone’s surprise I easily cleared the exam scoring over 60%
marks”, Arun Patil recalls. The main hurdle to his BUMS degree was
now removed. But few more were in line as he proceeded to the
ensuing years.
“Like Sanskrit in
BAMS – the equivalent degree in Ayurvedic medicines, Arabic was a
compulsory subject in BUMS. Though I had acquired enough proficiency
in Urdu, Arabic was still a mystery for me”, he says. He needed
three attempts to clear the subject.
Now he was a star
student in the college. Right from Maulana Vastanvi – the
founder-chairman of the college to the peon, everyone would take
special care of him. Finally he appeared in the final exams totally
unaware that the destiny would be simultaneously testing him for one
more exam. His father after a brief illness died just when he was to
appear for the surgery paper. After facilitating his funeral when
Arun appeared for the exam everyone was taken by surprise.
“It is not without
tremendous courage that one handles such situations”, Dr. Yusufi,
the principal of the college said while proudly patting his back. He
managed to emerge triumphant in the nerve test. Few months later
when the results were announced he emerged triumphant even in the
other. Dr. Arun Ramchandra Patil now had the tag of being the only
Unani medical practitioner in Maharashtra. There are five BUMS
colleges in the state and an estimated 300 Unani doctors graduate
from these institutions every year. However the honour Dr. Arun
Patil earned in 2006 has never been shared by anyone till now.
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