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Empathetic science and TB elimination


Three years ago I read a novella “Yaanai Doctor” (Elephant doctor) in Tamil, by Jeyamohan. It is a heartwarming and deeply moving narrative of the life of Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, a forest department veterinary surgeon who dedicated his life to conservation and treatment of wild elephants in south India. The book moved me deeply through its arresting narrative style and the inspiring tribute that it paid to a humble unsung hero. Dr. V.K ‘s beautiful journey with the elephants in the forest and the way they understand, respect and love him felt inspiring. The book stood for ‘empathetic science’, scientific knowledge laced with compassionate empathy for all life forms. Though I read the book long ago, the feeling that it gave me never left me. 

Today, I received the book “Echoes from the Atoll: Inside India’s first TB-free islands” which I had ordered a week ago. Written by Dr. Rakesh P.S., my dear friend, the book is published by Clever Fox Publishing, Chennai. Rakesh sent me a message that his book is now available in the market and said he would love it if I read the book. I had read a previous book of his “Outbreak Investigations – diary of a shoe leather epidemiologist” and given him some critical feedback about it. Rakesh told me specifically to read this book and said he has kept my feedback in mind. So, I opened the book with feverish excitement as soon as I received it. I started reading it and finished it in about 1 hour and 30 mins. I am searching for the right words to describe my experience. So, I decided that I will draw a parallel to another brilliant book that gave me a similar experience, “Yaanai Doctor”. Yes, Rakesh’s book on the story of TB elimination in the Lakshadweep islands is not just an interesting read, it is deeply moving and captures the essence of ‘empathetic science’. 

 

The book is nothing short of a gripping television series. I wouldn’t be surprised if a production house got their hand on it and sought the rights from Rakesh to make it into one. His description of the archipelago, the tumultuous seas, the peaceful lagoons, the beautiful aquatic flora, the undersea world, the coconut trees, the white beaches and the people are so vivid that he paints such a colorful and peaceful picture in these pages. The story comes to us from Rakesh’s point of view, during his 14th trip to the atoll, and he seamlessly travels from present to past and back to the present. The entire story is narrated in this non-linear roller coaster of a ride! 

 

He wears multiple hats in this book – a traveler, historian, geography buff, nature lover, public health professional and over and above everything, someone who deeply loves people. The people in the book stand out as exemplary human beings. I couldn’t help but love Malik and Ameer. I have had the good fortune of moving very closely with Rakesh during the one year that we spent together in our alma mater during our community medicine residency. When I read about Malik, I saw Rakesh in him. The happy, cheerful, enthusiastic, taking over the life of people whom he cares about, giving limitlessly, expecting nothing back! That is who Rakesh is and that is who Rakesh says Malik is! Seeing them together would have been like seeing two Rakeshs in one frame! The importance he has given to the people in the islands, the public health leaders, Dr. Shamsudeen, Dr. Jaleel, tells me more about Rakesh as a person than these people themselves. He sees people and values them. To him every contributor is important, starting from the Member of Parliament to the little girl for whom he recommended TB preventive treatment and years later sang a song for him during his visit! 

There were places in the narrative where Rakesh captures the collective power of the human enterprise. These places made me choke and tear up, in a very warm and cozy way, with tears of joy. Be it the beautiful experience of getting on to small ferry boats in absolute solidarity to be taken to the larger speed vessels for inter-island travel or the adventurous fisherman boat ride in the wild seas where they allow him to steer the boat, Rakesh’s human stories made my heart jump with joy! 

 

The anecdote of the big shot two-member evaluation team from a prestigious institution in Delhi, who were skeptical about the low TB case reporting rate from the islands was inspiring and funny! They looked for a catastrophe, understood the absolute challenges that the seas posed in travel and logistics, got stranded in the island, and realized that the only chaos and disaster that was present was their own arrogance! In one of the chapters, I literally got up and pumped my fist in joy. On March 23rd, 2021, the Central TB Division calls and tells Rakesh that they want to declare Lakshadweep islands as TB-free. That is not the fist pump moment! What Rakesh says in response to that is the true response of an absolutely grounded, seasoned, balanced, people centered public health professional. Read it yourself and I am sure it is one of the high points in the book! 

 

I read the book with plenty of smiles, tears, fist-pumps, heart races and overall, when I finished it I was left with a warm afterglow of being allowed to be a fellow traveler in Rakesh’s phenomenal journey of TB elimination in the Lakshadweep islands. After Jeyamohan’s “Yaanai Doctor”, this is one book that I will strongly recommend to everyone, public health professional and otherwise. I don’t think this is a public health book! This is a master human story of a great achievement of collective human enterprise! Congratulations Rakesh on penning an absolute masterpiece! 

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