Kerala   

A yen for medical service

A dermatologist who has retired from the United Kingdom's National Health Services recently, he reveals why he wants to render charity medical services in Kerala, in a chat with Ignatius Pereira.

Nicholas Alexander

After 38 years of medical service in London, dermatologist Nicholas Alexander is back for good in his native Kollam with a charity package. He now wants to render free medical service to the poor of Kerala. Last month he retired from the Princess Royal Hospital, East Hull, a medical centre of the United Kingdom's National Health Services.

The 69-year-old Dr. Alexander says that during his whole career as a dermatologist he had never taken money from a single patient. "I want to carry forward that habit of mine while serving in my native Kerala too, preferably at Kollam'' he said during a chat with The Hindu here. Dr. Alexander said that he specialised in dermatology not by chance but by choice. That is because more than 20 per cent of the people are seen to suffer from some skin problem during their lifetime, he explained. "I just want to help such people without asking them to pay me for that."

With this idea in mind, Dr. Alexander is in Kollam, exploring how to render free service to society. Dermatology is one medical branch where rendering free service becomes easy because the in-patient role for skin problems is comparatively less. The branch has a shortage of medical professionals and many from the poor sections of society here simply ignore their skin problems.

They rush for some treatment only when it aggravates to a serious condition. But when these sections realise that free medical service is available to attend to their skin problems, they are bound avail that service at the initial stages itself, he said. "And that's one good reason for serving the people of my State. It will get all the more profound if I get support from some charitable institution," he said. As part of his ad hoc exploration programme, he is in touch with a couple of charitable institutions too.

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