A BENEVOLENT VISION
BHARTIKASHYAP, 52 Co-founder, Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital, RANCHI
Dr Bharti Kashyap was only 15 when she lost her father. Fighting a losing battle against lung cancer, he left her a letter with a life mantra: ‘Live your dreams. Results matter the most in the real world. You need to work harder than “good enough” to fulfil you desires.’
Bharti would realise the true weight of those words years later, when, as an ophthalmologist, she found her true calling extending medicare to people living in the remote parts and Maoist strongholds of Jharkhand. “The poor and marginalised people in Jharkhand’s back of beyond are suffering, but extremism dissuades doctors from reaching out to them,” says Bharti, who established the Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital with her husband, Dr B.P. Kashyap, in Ranchi in 1996, but chose to equally invest her time and skills serving the people in the hinterlands.
Children in the conflict zone are Bharti’s priority. “They are the worse sufferers. In the villages, I find scores of children battling eye ailments. Their parents are clueless about what needs to be done,” she says. “Some of my village camps run for over two weeks, and surgeries are performed as well. The very serious cases, particularly among children, are called to Ranchi.”
The eye specialist and her team have handled several thousand cases of villagers in the Maoist areas, using a low-cost mobile vision-testing centre launched in 2007 to hold free eye camps. “The rate of blindness in Jharkhand is almost double the national average,” says Bharti, giving a sense of the challenges at hand. According to the 2011 Census, nearly a quarter of Jharkhand’s differently-abled people have vision issues. Bharti’s patients include diabetics, old age home residents, daily wagers, railway station porters and tribal communities. In recognition of her efforts, the Union ministry of women and child development honoured her with the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2017.
Dr Bharti also arranges cervical cancer screenings in villages by roping in gynaecologists. “I also educate women about nutrition, genital hygiene, multiple pregnancies and the disadvantages of marrying off girls at an early age,” she says. “Many women return from my camps convinced what they need to do. This gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction.” ■
“THE POOR IN JHARKHAND’S BACK OF BEYOND ARE SUFFERING, BUT EXTREMISM DISSUADES DOCTORS FROM REACHING OUT TO THEM”