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In death, a prescription for 50 years of kindness and care by Kannur's ‘two-rupee doctor'
In May 2024, a handwritten note in Malayalam was hung on the iron gates of a house in Kannur's Thana locality: 'I am not well enough to do my job today… So, (I am) stopping examining patients and giving them medicine.'
Till the note was widely shared on social media in 2024, Dr Rairu Gopal remained Kannur's best-kept secret for 50 years. Since he started his career in 1974, this Kannur-based general physician continued to charge his patients just Rs 2 for a consultation — an act that earned him the moniker of the 'two-rupee doctor'. Though consultation fees across the country rose to three and even four digits over the years, Dr Gopal never hiked his fee.
On August 2, Kannur's 'two-rupee doctor' breathed his last. As tributes poured in for the city's unsung doctor, who had looked after its health for five decades, so did his life's story.
His son Balagopal, also a doctor, said his grandfather, A Gopalan Nambiar, who hailed from Kannur's Mavilayi, was a doctor with the Colonial-era Madras Medical Service.
Dr Balagopal says, 'My father was guided by his father's (Dr Nambiar) advice that the medical profession should not be used to make money. He was told that if he wanted to make money, he should choose another profession.''
Having studied in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Dr Gopal graduated from the Government Medical College in Kozhikode in the early 1970s. 'He got admission to an engineering course, but opted for the MBBS programme because it was his dream,'' says his son.
After completing his MBBS, Dr Gopal worked at a local co-operative hospital in Kannur. He also attended patients at the West Coast Nursing Home, which was established by his father in the city's Burnassery locality.
A few years later, Dr Gopal started his own clinic — the beginning of his journey as the 'two-rupee doctor' in the north Kerala town.
Inside his house, then in the city's Talap locality, Dr Gopal opened a two-room pharmacy-cum-clinic. His wife, Dr Shakunthala, joined the clinic but had a separate consultation facility.
'The consultation fee back then was usually Rs 2, a good amount back then. With a decade into the profession, my father had a settled life with a house in the city. He never wanted to hike his fee due to his concern for the underprivileged. He felt the consultation fee of Rs 2 and a meagre profit from the sale of medicines was enough to run the family. That may be why he never felt the need to hike his consultation charges,' says Dr Balagopal.
Unlike many doctors, Dr Gopal kept rather unusual hours. 'He would wake up quite early, and open the clinic between 3 am and 4 am. He would see patients till 2 pm and prescribe only generic medicines,' adds Dr Balagopal.
Dr Gopal's patients often came from distant places like Vadakara, nearly 45 km from Kannur, and Kasaragod, over 90 km away. His clinic's timings were a hit with the daily-wage labourers, who could consult a doctor without losing a day's pay.
Despite a footfall of nearly 300 patients daily, Dr Gopal never dreamed of working at a hospital. 'Since he loved working independently, he never accepted any offers from hospitals or corporate health centres. Nor did he have any plans to expand his clinic. He loved his two-room clinic at the Talap house. Other than a facility for performing minor procedures, he did not have a laboratory at home,' says Dr Balagopal, adding that his father ran that clinic for 35 years with two staff members.
At Talap, he said his father kept two cows to meet the family's dairy needs. Till age caught up with him, Dr Gopal continued to rear cows and distribute milk in the neighbourhood.
Though his wife Shakunthala retired 15 years ago, Dr Gopal continued to see patients. Then, a decade ago, he moved to a new house in the city's Thana locality. In Thana, he downsized to a single-room clinic that he ran without a pharmacist.
To a question on keeping his father's legacy alive, Dr Balagopal, who works with a hospital, apart from running his own clinic in Kannur, says, 'I ensure that I prescribe my patients only the medicines and lab investigations they require.'
