"Morality, Ethics Must Be Revived": Doctor Who Charged Rs 5 For Services

Honoured with the nation's fourth-highest civilian award - Padma Shri - Mr Mukherjee has one appeal to make to the medical fraternity: "Treat one poor patient free of cost a day".

What can Rs 5 buy you in India? Perhaps not even a cup of tea at roadside kiosks that dot marketplaces, and definitely not medical treatment for hundreds of poor COVID-19 patients whose distressed cries for help are echoing in hospital corridors across the country. But the humble Rs 5 coin goes a long way if you happen to be a patient of this octogenarian doctor in Ranchi. Despite his own failing health and old age, compassion drives Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, 85, to treat the poor who make a beeline for his clinic. He even waives the paltry Rs 5 consultation fee for those who cannot pay. Honoured with the nation's fourth-highest civilian award - Padma Shri - Mr Mukherjee has one appeal to make to the medical fraternity: "Treat one poor patient free of cost a day".