In 2003, not even two years that Dr. Rahul Jain had completed his MBBS, his life hit a wall: he was detected with osteosarcoma — a very aggressive malignancy of the bone — of the left knee. The entire leg from the left hip was removed by surgery, which was followed by chemotherapy.
“I was told to drop medicine as a career. Some of the options given were to open a shop. Because I was more or less confined to the room for a year, I could reflect over life and death. The fact that I was immobile gave my mind the breathing space it wanted. I was no longer distracted by cinema halls and malls. I could read more. I discovered the Bhagavad Gita,” says Dr. Jain, now 45 and a well-known internal medicine specialist in the city, who has attended to nearly 4,000 COVID-19 patients so far, of them about 1,500 at the Bellevue Clinic, the hospital he’s attached to.
“The Bhagavad Gita remains the most inspirational book I’ve have read. One shloka says: If you fight, you will either be slain on the battlefield and go to the celestial abodes, or you will gain victory and enjoy the kingdom on earth; therefore, arise with determination, and be prepared to fight! That motivated me. By then I was married for almost two years; my wife Vineeta stood by me firmly. I got a good prosthesis from a German company called Otto Bock and I could walk. My crutches became my trademark, my identity,” says Dr. Jain.
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In 2010, he joined MD at the same college where did his MBBS, R.G. Kar Medical College, and topped his batch. His climb to popularity was quick. The wide variety of his patients — from Governors to the common man — matched that of those sought his help, from journalists wanting quotes to trusting patients wanting advice on personal matters.
“Patients I know routinely send me the biodata of prospective matches for their children. They ask me things like, ‘Is the boy suitable for my daughter?’ Or, ‘Will you come with me once and meet the boy?’ One man insisted I name his son. A liftman from my friend’s apartment complex gifted me a box of crayons and a drawing book for my son — just because I had saved his son from typhoid,” says Dr. Jain.
Then, in early 2020, COVID-19 struck. “I have treated more than 1,500 indoor cases, hundreds in the critical care unit. I was not afraid for myself but afraid for my family members. Until January 2021 (when he got vaccinated), I used to sleep alone in a separate room. I would talk to my wife and son and to my parents through video calls on WhatsApp,” says the doctor, whose passions include Western art, Kurosawa’s films and fountain pens.
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“Going to hospital in the early days of the pandemic was almost like going to a battle in the thick of a war. I did my work in hospital out of a sense of national duty and moral obligation to the city of Kolkata. There was a lot of adrenaline — the Bhagavad Gita helped again,” he recalls.
Then came the second wave of the pandemic, when those dying were no longer just the elderly. “Losing patients is always a personal thing. I remember the face of each one I lost. I will never forget the smiling face of that young lady, hardly 40, who had come for a vacation from Gujarat. She made me realise that we are all mortal. Someday we will all die. Just that there should be dignity and resilience in this life. Do whatever you are good at with passion and dedication,” says Dr. Jain.