Ex-child labourer turns doctor

Role model: Sivaprasad (right) with his father Eeswarappa.

A former child worker will soon proudly don a stethoscope around his neck and go round hospital wards as a qualified house surgeon.

K. Sivaprasad, who was rescued from a cotton seed processing plant 13 years ago by an officer, completed his MBBS with 73.4 per cent marks, topping the results at Santhiram Medical College, Nandyal.

In 1997, Sivakumar Reddy, inspector of factories, spotted a 12-year-old boy struggling to fill seed into bags in the city. He was touched by the condition of the boy on learning that he had dropped out from ZP High School at Kallur to support his family.

Gets bank loan

The officer helped him resume studies in the same school where he passed the SSC exam with 512 marks out of 600. He went on to complete Intermediate from the Government Junior College with flying colours (841/1000) and secured a seat in MBBS in 2005. On learning about his achievements in studies, Andhra Bank sanctioned an education loan in the second year of MBBS.

Mr. Sivakumar Reddy, an inspector of factories at Guntur, told

The Hindu that with little financial help from him, the boy produced outstanding results. Mr. Reddy helped two other boys too who were pursuing engineering education at Guntur.

Mr. Sivaprasad's father, Eeswarappa, is a security guard in a private company, while his mother stopped going to work due to her illness. After MBBS, Mr. Sivaprasad plans to pursue his postgraduate degree in nuclear medicine or pathology. His family, however, is worried about the funding of further studies because the bankers would insist on collateral security for sanctioning a loan while it does not even own a house.