Medical clowning: Meet the ‘Clown Doctors’ of Visakhapatnam who heal with laughter

Spread joy and hope through medical clowning at Visakhapatnam hospitals, bringing laughter to patients battling terminal illness.

Anantram Ganapati and Meenakshi Anantram’s medical clown names are Mumpi and Bonji. But for now, they smile at anyone they see at the Homi Bhaba Cancer Hospital at Agnampudi in Visakhapatnam and identify themselves as the ‘Clown Doctors’.

Children in the oncology wards of hospitals in the city laugh as the red-nosed Clown Doctors try to take their mind off the beeping of monitors and the murmur of medical consultations. Anantram and Meenakshi are the city’s medical clown couple, trained to bring joy and hope to people who are unwell, often the terminally ill.

In the sombre corridors of paediatric oncology wards in hospitals, a splash of colour and a burst of laughter can seem like an anomaly. Yet, medical clowning, an emerging facet of palliative care, is proving to be a powerful tool in improving the well-being of those undergoing treatment.

The Clown Doctors is an initiative of the Rohit Memorial Trust, which was founded by the couple in 2008 in memory of their elder son Rohit who succumbed to cancer. “Our lives’ journey has taught us several lessons; we realised we can create a positive impact on the lives of people going through a similar journey when we came across the concept of medical clowning,” says Anantram, a social scientist who has been a part of the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital for the past few years.

Anantram underwent an online course on Palliative Care offered by the Stanford University, USA, where he learnt the basics. Later, he along with his wife Meenakshi, went through a basic course on make-up and use of props under the Mumbai-based Navy veteran Pravin Tulpule, who is popularly known as Happy, the Medical Clown.

Today, the couple along with their team of volunteers, are actively associated with three hospitals in Visakhapatnam – the Homi Bhaba Cancer Hospital, Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Apollo.

Dressed in a bright pair of ballooning striped pants, a flamboyant shirt, floppy shoes, and of course, a red nose, Meenakshi’s appearance is so striking, that everyone who passes her at Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital smiles.