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A cut above the rest

Photo: S. James

Dedicated Dr. R. Kousalya Devi epitomises love and care

Her indefinable humility, indefatigable spirit to serve, energy reserves within her wiry frame, her mind totally at peace, the glinting eyes and beaming face, all combined dwarf me as I bow into a ‘namaste’.

Eight months short of 80, Dr.R.Kousalya Devi, after returning early morning from Chennai walks straight into the Operation Theatre of Kasturba Hospital at Chinnalapatti. She is out at 10.30 to take me around the five-acre campus. Next four hours, we walk and talk and she shows no trace of fatigue.

With pride and patience, she takes me to every ward and building, old and new additions. Intermittently, she says: “Please, I do not want publicity. Write only about the hospital.”

For once, photographer S.James has a tough time getting the right shot. Slightly arched by age and seeped in humility, Dr.Kousalya hardly lifts her face for the click. And we just can’t bring ourselves to asking her to pose for the camera.

Patients and their relatives interject us several times, each eager to seek her blessings or shake hands. The elderly want to feel her warmth and rub her hands with their palm. Young men and women stand up or stop in reverence with folded palms when she crosses their way. Young children come running pulling her ‘pallu’ or asking for a candy. Uncomplaining, she attends to all and it is a sight worth recording.

Her docile demeanour, dedication and devotion stump me. Rigours of a demanding schedule do not seem to bother Dr.Kousalya, the Adviser of Kasturba Hospital and Managing Trustee of the apex body, the Gandhigram Trust.

Albeit reluctantly, the octagenarian gynaecologist opens up in a voice that says it all: “I am happily unmarried. I have been here since 1969 and have delivered three generations of babies.” Wedded to the institution and service, there is no room for any distraction in the life of Dr.Kousi – as she is fondly called.

She remains oblivious of her cult status. People come from far and near believing in “the magic of her hands.” The most complicated and worst delivery cases return happy from here, it is said.

What started as Avvai Rural Medical Service in 1943 in Pappanchavadi near Adyar, Chennai, by the well known social worker late Dr.T.S.Soundram (daughter of T.V.S.Sundaram Iyengar and Lakshmi Amma), was shifted to Chinnalapatti in 1947 as the Kasturba Maternity Home. From 22 beds, it has grown to a 300-bedded hospital with nearly 100,000 deliveries in its records.

Young Dr.Kousi, an alumnus of Madras Medical College, who was then working in Government Hospital, Nagapattinam, arrived here four decades ago on a two-year deputation. And she never left.

“I went to Madurai to attend a friend’s wedding and instead spent four hours listening to the founder (Dr.Soundram) who was then looking for a doctor to work at the Kasturba Hospital. I had no intention of joining but at the end of her talk, I found my true calling. She was irresistible and changed the course of my life,” she recalls.

Working here is a great experience as you can see the impact you make on peoples’ lives. Acceptance of family planning has gone up, birth rate has decreased and birth interval increased, points out Dr.Kousalya.

She is a familiar sight on the campus making her rounds on schedule and doing roughly 10 deliveries a day. “I have no plans to retire,” she laughs.

The only break she was compelled to take was when she underwent hip replacement surgery after a fall two years ago. She was back in action within three months. “Post-surgery, I am able to walk faster,” she smiles, adding that she is actually on call duty after 15 years in the absence of enough doctors. The hospital needs at least seven but at present there are only four.

Yet, Dr.Kousi underlines: “Everybody works here not per force but because he or she really wants to. It shows in the way things are done. I adhere to and advocate simplicity. I have cut down on my needs, including food. At 60, I gave up breakfast. I don’t take rice or milk. One light meal and a glass of butter milk is enough for me at this age,” she shares.

On her role models: "I was deeply moved by our founder’s ideals and how she practiced them in her life. She belonged to a wealthy family but practiced simplicity and was a direct disciple of Gandhiji,” she reveres.

She considers her Gandhian father, Raghupathi Reddy, her “first guru”, who taught her valuable lessons. A government veterinary doctor, he moved to different places from native Sattur with his family consisting of his wife, two daughters and two sons.

“When I was small, my family members once went to temple leaving me behind. I cried and my father told me they have gone searching for God. But if you do good, God will come to you. I diligently followed his words and did well in my studies, always helped others and did everything I could which I thought was good. Yet there was no sign of God. When I asked Appa, he said, God came every time you helped somebody, you missed him.”

Recalling her childhood, Dr.Kousi says humanity and service was the religion her parents taught and practiced. “When we were in Nagapattinam, I would take guests to the Velankanni Church, the Sikkil Singaaravelan temple and the Nagore dargah. My father would say it is nice that you go there but it will be nicer if you see Singaaravelan in Velankanni, Mother Mary in Nagore and Allah at the Sikkil temple.”

If her father laid the early seeds of compassion and service in her, Dr.Soundram provided her the opportunity to serve.

"It is not necessary to do what everybody else is doing. We have not done anything unique but focused on felt-needs of the community. Rural health care is about education and awareness building. We never say no to anyone on the grounds of money. People pay or don’t according to capacity. Today, when a girl from Chinnalapatti has her marriage arranged, she asks her father whether the house she will enter post-marriage, has a proper toilet. That is our real achievement."

Dr.Kousi — also called ‘Pemmi’ (Periamma shortened) by family members and close friends — is an achiever in her own way. Always a School rank holder, she topped in B.A(Maths) at The American College, Inter-Biology course in Lady Doak College and got a medical seat with ease. At Kasturba Hospital today, she knows everybody by name -- from the youngest toddler at the adoption center to the oldest 90-year diabetic lady in the geriatric unit. She is in touch with “her first baby” who was given in adoption 21 years ago. I can’t refrain from asking why she remained single. “I wanted to be free to be able to do what I want. My parents understood and never compelled me. All my time and energy is focused only on serving rural people and I enjoy my work,” she replies non-chalantly.

I prod on her other interests and she smiles again: “I like to travel but age and time no longer permit me. I like Carnatic music but rarely go for concerts. I know very few songs that I sing only to myself. The only interest I am able to pursue now is to work with people.”

That she was detected of breast cancer two decades ago and her triumph over the disease is another story of grit and brevity. “God has been kind to me. He has not burdened me with worries,” she says in her inimitable manner. As I take leave, she fondly holds my hands and says: “I have had a pleasant holiday in your company.” I will treasure the words of Dr.Kousi, who is a legend in these parts and a proof that Gandhiji still lives and so do his dreams, principles and ideologies.

She is synonymous with all that Gandhiji stood for – tolerance, love and service. There could have been no better person than Dr.Kousi to pay tribute to on this Gandhi Jayanti.

FACT FILE

Under Dr.Kousalya’s stewardship, the Kasturba Hospital has won the National Award for its contribution to family welfare services twice in 1970-71 and 1971-72. From 1983 to 2000, it has won the State Award 14 times for the good work done in the field of family welfare.

The Kasturba Hospital considers mother and child health services as a big social responsibility. It not only conducts deliveries but also provides a wide spectrum of obstetrics and gynaecology and paediatric services. It has gained reputation as top referral centre for effective management of high risk obstetric cases, premature and sick newborns. It is a Government recognized Family Welfare Centre and performs more than 4,000 tubectomies every year.

It is one of the State recognized institutions to do in-country child adoption. So far, 167 abandoned children have been placed through the hospital’s adoption programme and at present, there are 13 infants and 100 applications waiting.

Artificial Limb (Jaipur foot) Research Center is a special social service offered since 1988 for fitting artificial limbs below and above knee for patients who undergo amputation following accidents or diseases.

It set up a Nature Cure and Yoga Research Centre last year.

The hospital practices telemedicine and is connected to Narayana Hirudayalaya, Bangalore; Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. Last year, it also signed an MoU with Apollo Hospitals for integrated health care to the rural poor and set up the Aravind Eye Vision Centre. It runs a geriatric unit to provide medical care to old women. Health education and counseling, training programmes are run regularly for multi-purpose health workers, arogya sevikas, lab technicians, clinical and nursing assistants,who come from all over the country for residential courses.

The hospital OPD on an average examines 300 patients a day and provides supportive services like blood bank, pathology lab, pharmacy, X-ray unit and scanners.

The hospital runs three crèches and also renders community health services in the surrounding villages.

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