It’s rare for a doctor to be known by his consultation fee than the treatment he renders. However, the ‘₹10 doctor’ in Anaparthi in East Godavari district, has earned the name for providing deprived patients treatment for the same nominal fee for the past 27 years.
It was Sathi Suryanarayana Reddy’s father’s dream that he serve the poor. “This is to fulfil the last wish of my father, who passed away when I was pursuing medicine,” he recalls.
Seeing more than 200 patients, who make a beeline for the outpatient department every day, he spends 12 hours in the OPD and reserves another five for medical procedures.
Come weekends or public holidays, Dr. Reddy gives consultation to patients who mostly throng from surrounding villages and towns. Fee for poor patients from faraway villages, who typically spend everything on transport, is exempted.
He was among the first batch of students at Siddhartha Medical College, Vijayawada, and later specialised in general surgery from the JJM Medical College at Davanagere in 1991, when he opened the nursing home in his native town.
Even then, ₹10 was lower than the average consultation fee charged by most doctors. “I preferred not to raise the fee, as I am here not for earnings. With my wife Adilakshmi extending her support, I am able to run the show this way,” he says, smiling.
