World | India
Indian family has 144 doctors in the house
Originally inspired by Gandhi's teachings six generations have now all opted for a career in medicine and married medics
- By Nilima Pathak, Correspondent
- Published: 00:00 July 24, 2010
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i'm not sure why this is attractive news. i'm not even sure what that means. this is similar to incest, without diversification the family will become deformed and the topic of conversation will become ever more mundanely medical. It seems like the legacy has turned into a curse. Is there a dentist in the house? What's wrong with being a dentist?
Anonymous, Manor Park, Afghanistan
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My parents forced me to be a Doctor. I wanted to be a Landscape Gardener, specialising in frog ponds and Japanese fauna. Then they forced me into an arranged marriage with a lunatic. I have four children and they are forcing them to be Doctors. I earn good money, I have a big house. But behind my smile, are the tears of a pitiful, spineless child who still cant stand up for himself. And why i specialised in intestinal sugery God only knows.
Harmandeep Thind, London, United Kingdom
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It is very attractive news. Their devotion in their Social services are very positive and this can be followed by others too. Thanks for Gulf News for publishing this type of attractive news.
saji, dubai, India
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I find this appalling. Medicine is a vocation. People should not be threatened with being excluded from the family if they dont become a doctor. The same goes for being a cobbler in my family. I rebelled and have been a Hand Model for 15 years now, am very happy and have never looked back.
Anonymous, Slough Central, United Kingdom
New Delhi: A total of 144 doctors and still counting…The Sabharwal family could well be in Guinness World Records for its five generations choosing to become doctors — and the sixth generation following suit.
It all began in the 1920s when influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's talks on education and health, Lala Jeewanmal Sabharwal, a station master on the railways in Lahore decided to serve society in his own way.
Insisting that all his four sons — Bodhraj, Trilok Nath, Rajendra Nath and Mahendra Nath — study medicine, in 1930, he opened a hospital in Jalalpur Jattan, a village in Gujrat district (now Pakistan).
Ritual
The family moved to Delhi during the Partition and set up the first hospital in 1948-49 bearing the name of the family patriarch, Jeewan. Built on an area of 10,000sq yards, Sabharwal's later approached the courts to establish the place as Jeewan Nagar. The courts relented and Jeevan Nagar now has its own post office and markets.
For subsequent years, Bodhraj being the eldest son ensured that all children in the family followed in their father's footsteps. He carried out a ritual. It was customary for children to seek his blessings after passing the second year of their MBBS when he would give them a stethoscope as a sentimental gesture.
The practice died with him, but not the sentiment behind it. For now the sixth generation Sabharwals are also studying medicine.
Dr Satinder, the third generation Sabharwal and son of Dr Rajendra Nath, said: "This isn't all. Our grandfather insisted that all his sons and grandsons marry only doctors. Thus, presently, the oldest Sabharwal is Dr Sudarshana, a 90-year-old daughter-in-law of the family."
For decades the dinner table conversations have comprised hospital talk. It has even had its fair share of rebels. Someone did not want to become a doctor and another took a fancy to a paramedic and decided to marry her.
Citing his own example, Dr Satinder, now a senior consultant eye surgeon, says: "I took up mathematics and was keen on becoming an engineer. First admonished to fall in line, I was later warned by my father to either study medicine or fend for myself. The purpose not being to disobey him and left with no choice, I respected his decision. After doing my MBBS, I was sent to London for further studies."
The Director of Jeewan Hospital & Nursing Homes, he is now also the Chairman of the Vidhyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (VIMHANS), New Delhi.
Dr Satinder recalls the tale of one of his nephews who fell in love with a paramedic and eventually married her.
He said: "She soon discovered that the entire family was highly educated. And probably fed up of being questioned by people why she was not a doctor, the moment she joined her husband in the US, she decided to study medicine. Now, both husband and wife are doctors in the US."
Another track record of the Sabharwals is they never insist on their daughters joining the profession. The doctor attributed it to the difficulty of finding a suitable match for them from a respectable family of doctors in India. Also, he saw no point if a doctor were to become a full-time housewife after marriage.
Dr Satinder said: "Working in established family hospitals is much easier for the youngsters than choosing another line and struggling to come up in life. It is a lucrative profession, which at the same time gives immense satisfaction for serving humanity."
In the last six decades, the family has built eight Jeewan hospitals and nursing homes — six in Delhi and one each in Rohtak and Panipat, both in Haryana.
Not much has changed over the years, except the fact that the Sabharwal children no longer sit in the operating theatres to do their homework while their parents operate on patients.
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