Mother of 11-year-old, Dr Alaknanda Vaidya commutes between Pune and Baramati over weekends, she has put up an petition online, appealing to authorities for a transfer
Dr Alaknanda Vaidya, who met with an accident in 2010 in Pune, injuring her spine and paralysing her from waist down, examines a patient in the Baramati hospital where she’s posted since 2015
It's been over a year that a Pune doctor — 90 per cent disabled — was posted at a hospital 125 kilometres away from her home, but her fight to get reallocated to the city is still going on.
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The disabled medical officer’s maid helps her get out of the car
This is the story of 39-year-old Alaknanda Vaidya, who hails from Mumbai, but is settled in Sinhagad Road, Pune. She was posted as a medical officer (Grade A) gynaecologist and obstetrician at a sub-district hospital in Baramati on February 7, 2015.
The gynaecologist-obstetrician with her 11-year-old daughter
After her repeated pleas for a transfer fell on deaf ears, her father finally put up a petition on Change.org listing her grievances. And that ultimately got chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to take notice and assure her of his help, who tweeted yesterday, “Got your request, Dr Alaknanda Vaidya. Director, Health Services will be in touch with you. Needful for your transfer will be done by tomorrow. Pls inform which officer did not consider your request. Apologies for the inconvenience.”
Family matters
Vaidya had met with an accident in 2010 in Pune while travelling in an autorikshaw, which turned turtle, injuring her spine and paralysing her from waist down. The mother of an 11-year-old girl and a divorcee, she has been on a wheelchair since. “I had ranked 13th in the open category and first in Pune division for this post. I, however, accepted the Baramati posting reluctantly. Baramati to Pune is a five-hour drive, so I stay there during the week and go home to my daughter, who is with my parents, on the weekend,” said Vaidya.
“I earn Rs 50,000 a month and nearly half of it was going in paying my driver and maid, as I need the latter 24x7. Now, I am managing to save a bit as I have learnt to drive. But then, I again had to shell out from my pocket to build a ramp to enter the house the government has provided me.
“I am living for my daughter… but I am not able to be with her, attend PTA meetings in her school, watch her grow up… Neither can I bring her to Baramati with me. Over the last one year I have sent emails and letters to authorities concerned, including the PMO and CM... I have requested them to give me a transfer to Pune, to enable me to be with my daughter as well as help my maid be with her family too.”
Living by the rule
Vaidya said that as per a government rule a physically-challenged person can’t be posted further than 10 kilometres from his/her home, and that’s what her appeal to the CM on Change.org states.
Her father Ram Goswai, a retired bank employee, said, “My daughter is not asking for any favours or sympathy; she’s just fighting for what’s already in the rule book.”
Vaidya’s online petition, which was posted two days ago, has been signed by 84,063 people so far.
When mid-day spoke to her maid Shobha Raut, she said, “Dr Vaidya makes sure she reaches the hospital around 9.30 am and stays till late evening. She is hardworking and an inspiration for me. I have been with her for two years now. I miss my family in Pune, but seeing the struggles and sacrifices she has had to make, I can’t leave her. I help her in all the work, right from bathing to dressing.”
“Patients love her, she’s an inspiration for many women here. In spite of her disability, she never says no to any work,” said Dr Pradnya Nikam, Vaidya’s colleague. Despite repeated attempts additional chief secretary, Public Health and Family Welfare of Maharashtra, Sujata Saunik remained unavailable for comment.
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