One Who Speaks Wins

DR. SHANKAR MAN RAI

Dr. Shankar Man Rai calls himself a candid speaker, but he always refrains from self publicity. He started his medical profession as a health assistant and later earned his medical degree from Tribhuvan University (TU). The Surgical Outreach Center he established has given new life to thousands of people with cleft lips and cleft palates through free operations. His service is also internationally recognized. Dr. Rai, who believes in being dutiful, is humbled and encouraged by such honors.

One Who Speaks Wins

I have worked in the health sector for the past 30 years. Most of the villagers in Sotang, Solukhumbu (Solu) were poor when I started my career as a heath assistant. It was unlikely that they could afford to go to big hospitals. I was called a ‘doctor’ there. Even those with broken hand and legs and nursing mothers with complicated problems came to see me for treatment.

       I used to be called to homes when patients could not walk to the health post. I wished that seriously ill patients would not come to the heath post because I was only a heath assistant. Most of them, however, could not afford to go to hospital far away. Whenever critically sick patients came to visit me, it reminded me of my own mother who had died during labor. But I did not have the proper medical training and felt helpless when I had to ask them to go to a hospital. Feeling really bitter about this, I decided to become a doctor myself.

       I candidly speak my heart. If I had suppressed my feelings while I was in Solu, I would have always remained a ‘health assistant.’ I would not have become a plastic surgeon with an education from TU Teaching Hospital and hospitals in Bangladesh and America. I believe that those people who express their inner heart have the power to attain their goal.

       While doing my medical studies in Kathmandu, many senior doctors were prejudiced against doctors who came from health assistant backgrounds like me. They felt we would not make good doctors. At times, I was tormented because I was treated as an inferior. But the longing that had been sparked in Solu gave me the courage to continue. The inspiration made me a doctor and I eventually started working at the TU Teaching Hospital.

       I was baffled by the surgery performed by foreign doctors on a child with a cleft lip. There wasn’t much equipment involved and in half an hour the child got a new face. I was so impressed that I immediately asked them to teach me the art. They were also ready to help me. Had I hesitated to express myself, I would not have become a surgeon who has treated 10,000 children with cleft lips and 2,000 children with burns.

       My friends and I are working around the clock to help the remaining 30,000 children in Nepal with cleft lips. I did not know its importance while I was learning plastic surgery. Thousands of children are saved from being demoralized in society. Several others who were living with dysfunctional limbs after burns have been able to walk.

       Man has to speak thoughtfully. But if you have the curiosity to learn, your admission of the unknown could open up many frontiers. Those who don’t speak may do some good work for themselves, but those who speak out loud can do a lot of good work for others. This is my experience. This is my belief.