His Medical Bank Lends A Breath Of Life To Those Who Can't Buy It

Though just in their teens then, Ashis and a dozen of his friends began a door-to-door collection drive, picking up excess medicines from neighbours, and distributing them among those who couldn't afford any. Ashis gave his venture a blunt moniker: Medical Bank. They began with 100 homes in 1980, today, this non-government health service outfit picks up free medicine samples from some 500 doctors. The Bank also has 50 donors on its rolls, each of whom bears the cost of treatment for one patient. "Sensitising the citizenry to their surroundings was our primary aim," says Ashis.

The Bank has done just that—and much more. In West Bengal, the public health system has withered away and derelict government hospitals are run by rapacious mafia-like party-sponsored unions. In this nightmarish world, Ashis' organisation, run out of a small office in Hatkhola, is an oasis of care and attention for the poor who flock here from far-flung suburbs. In a sterling effort at mobilising the community, it has signed up 1,000 locals, each of whom buys a pair of new spectacles for the bank, which then distributes it to the poor. Eight years ago, they began collecting old pacemakers from homes, hospitals and crematoria to give poor heart patients a new lease of life. Many a time these pacemakers can still be used for a few more years. They are tested, recharged and hospitals persuaded to implant them for free. (A new pacemaker costs anything between Rs 45,000-Rs 1.2 lakh, plus another Rs 30,000 for implanting charges). Already, the bank has managed to collect and implant over 300 pacemakers. "The pacemaker bank," says Ashis, "is one of our bigger successes." The bank also runs a free outdoor service—25 doctors treat about 100 patients every day—and a sparse pathology lab out of rented rooms in the neighbourhood. It has also managed to start monthly health camps for streetchildren and children of prostitutes in the area. Last year, it organised some 500 blood donation camps in Calcutta and its neighbourhood after networking with over 1,000 para (neighbourhood) clubs—there being a shortage of some 2 lakh units of blood in West Bengal, after a 1989 Supreme Court fiat banned professional blood donors. Then there is a highly successful night emergency service: six doctors man two telephones taking emergency calls and rushing two donated ambulances to critical patients. Public donations keep the crusade going, about Rs 7-10 lakh are raised annually.

But sensitising citizens has been a big achievement. In the past three years, the bank's youthful cadre has succeeded in rehabilitating seven AIDS patients—after they were driven out of their homes by fanatic local mobs for "defil-ing the neighbourhood."

There are a lot of worries for Ashis though: medicine collections have halved in the past few years after drug companies cut down on free sample supplies to doctors, people are also stocking less at home due to escalating prices. "This has become our biggest worry," says Ashis. For this 36-year-old affable, patient social worker, no crisis is insurmountable. You can contribute your medicines, pacemakers, or sponsor a poor patient's treatment, or give away a pair of spectacles every year—by writing to Ashis at: Medical Bank, 7 Rasik Lal Ghosh Lane, Calcutta 700 005. Or you could call him up at (33) 5540084, 5557852 and 5548003.