Whenever patients see me they are a bit startled at first, says Dr Baraiya. (File)
A 23-year-old Dr Ganesh Baraiya did not give up when the Medical Council of India disqualified him from pursuing MBBS owing to his short height some years back.
Three-feet-tall Dr Baraiya, however, did not fall short of his determination. He took the help of his school principal, approached the District Collector, the state Education Minister, and then knocked on the doors of the Gujarat High Court.
Even after losing the case at the Gujarat High Court, Dr Baraiya did not lose hope. He approached the top court, won the case in 2018, took admission into MBBS in 2019, and now after finishing his MBBS he is working as an intern at Sir-T Hospital in Bhavnagar.
"After I passed Class 12 and cleared the NEET exam to enroll into MBBS and filled up the form, the Medical Council of India committee rejected me for my height. They said that I would not be able to handle emergency cases because of my short height. Then, I spoke to my principal of Nilkanth Vidyapeeth Dr Dalpath Bhai Katariya, and Revasish Servaiya all about this, and asked them what we can do about it," Dr Baraiya said speaking to ANI about his initial struggle.
"They told me to meet the Bhavnagar Collector and the Gujarat Education Minister. Following the direction of the Bhavnagar Collector, we decided to take the case to the Gujarat High Court. Two other candidates were with us who were differently abled...We lost the case in the High Court but then we decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court," he added.
Speaking about how his MBBS journey finally started, Dr Baraiya said, "In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that I can get admission in the MBBS course. Since the 2018 admission to the MBBS course had been completed by then, the Supreme Court said that I would get admission in the 2019 MBBS course. I took admission at the Government Medical College at Bhavnagar and my MBBS journey started."
On his everyday challenges owing to his height, Dr Baraiya said that though patients judge him for his height initially, they get comfortable over time and accept him as their doctor.
"Whenever patients see me they are a bit startled at first but then they accept me and I also accept their initial behavior. They behave with me cordially and with positivity. They become happy as well," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)