M.C.Modi
Murugappa
Channaveerappa Modi was an Indian ophthalmologist.
Born of humble parentage - a Kannadiga
from Bijapur district - Modi threw away a lucrative career in private practice
after attending Gandhiji's historic prayer meeting at Bombay on August 8, 1942
where the Quit India resolution was passed.
Modi was widely known as kannu kotta annu (‘the brother who
gifted us sight’) in rural Karnataka. Helen Keller described him as ‘a light
piercing the darkness in selfless service’ at a felicitation in New York.
Newspapers all across South India referred to him as the ‘cataract king’. His
marathon eye camps for the cataract-blind came to be known as ‘assembly line
surgery’.
As a medical student, Modi pledged that he would devote his life
for free eye care. But while working at KBHB Eye Hospital later, he discovered
that cataract patients were coming to him after selling away their cows,
jewellry and even houses. It is then that he conceived of the touring eye
hospital. Thus the first eye camp was organised at Pattan, close to Gandhiji’s
place of birth in Gujarat and some philanthropists arranged the venue, medicine
and food for the patients. There was no looking back since then.
For Modi, after the first camp, combating cataract and restoring vision became an all-consuming passion. Free eye camps in towns and villages were organised with the help of local donors and philanthropists and choultries, marriage halls and community centres came in handy for the purpose. Patients were laid on eight tables in a row and Dr Modi would move from table to table lifting the opaque veil from the patient’s eye lens with the flick of the knife. By the time he reached the 8th table, a new patient would be in place on the first.
Even while travelling in a train he would go up and down the coaches to examine the eyes of the passengers. Once while his wife accompanied him on a journey, he completely forgot about her, having examined the eyes of all passengers, felt his work was over and got off on a wrong station leaving his wife in the train.
For Modi, after the first camp, combating cataract and restoring vision became an all-consuming passion. Free eye camps in towns and villages were organised with the help of local donors and philanthropists and choultries, marriage halls and community centres came in handy for the purpose. Patients were laid on eight tables in a row and Dr Modi would move from table to table lifting the opaque veil from the patient’s eye lens with the flick of the knife. By the time he reached the 8th table, a new patient would be in place on the first.
Even while travelling in a train he would go up and down the coaches to examine the eyes of the passengers. Once while his wife accompanied him on a journey, he completely forgot about her, having examined the eyes of all passengers, felt his work was over and got off on a wrong station leaving his wife in the train.
His crusade against humanity’s greatest scourge kept Modi from
being a family man. All through married life, his wife stayed at her native
Dharwad and most visits to the family came while eye camps were on in and
around the area.
Pressure grew for more camps as Modi’s pace became feverish. Later he preferred Davangere to his native Bijapur because of its central location in Karnataka and finally opted to set up home and headquarters in Bangalore following persistent requests from the then chief minister K Hanumanthaiah who declared him a State guest wherever he went in the State.
Shy, unassuming and a vegetarian, he led a spartan life, relishing black tea, elneer (coconut water) and papaya. Personal well-being could never take possession of him. Selfless service was all that mattered to him. Honours and awards came in a deluge. The Karnataka government documented his services in a 10-minute documentary titled, One man’s war, by filmmaker M S Sathyu. The government of India conferred the Padma Bhushan on him.
His skill
Pressure grew for more camps as Modi’s pace became feverish. Later he preferred Davangere to his native Bijapur because of its central location in Karnataka and finally opted to set up home and headquarters in Bangalore following persistent requests from the then chief minister K Hanumanthaiah who declared him a State guest wherever he went in the State.
Shy, unassuming and a vegetarian, he led a spartan life, relishing black tea, elneer (coconut water) and papaya. Personal well-being could never take possession of him. Selfless service was all that mattered to him. Honours and awards came in a deluge. The Karnataka government documented his services in a 10-minute documentary titled, One man’s war, by filmmaker M S Sathyu. The government of India conferred the Padma Bhushan on him.
His skill
Modi’s forte lay in his incredible swiftness. Dr.He was known for his dexterity as a surgeon
and diagnostic acumen.It was
around the mid-70s in the holy town of Tirupati that he performed 833 cataract
operations in a day and entered the Guinness Book of World Records. The town
folk had opened all the choultires on the day. Since 1942, Dr Modi had examined
1,00,94,632 patients and performed a record 5,95,019 eye operations.
Often the very speed of the painless surgery would make the patients doubt the success of the eye surgery. “It was not unusual for the villagers to flee the camp throwing away the baggage in utter disbelief”, Dr Modi had told a journalist with a chuckle.
Modi had observed, “In the beginning the people were reluctant to undergo surgery, though it was quite simple, but those who regained sight became my ambassadors, mobilized funds and sent hordes of the blind and those with incipient blindness to me.”
Tenure as MLC
Often the very speed of the painless surgery would make the patients doubt the success of the eye surgery. “It was not unusual for the villagers to flee the camp throwing away the baggage in utter disbelief”, Dr Modi had told a journalist with a chuckle.
Modi had observed, “In the beginning the people were reluctant to undergo surgery, though it was quite simple, but those who regained sight became my ambassadors, mobilized funds and sent hordes of the blind and those with incipient blindness to me.”
Tenure as MLC
Dr. Modi was a nominated member of the Karnataka
Legislative Council for a term in the 1990s. He was connected with various
voluntary agencies. He was an eloquent speaker and adept at enthusing the
people to take up voluntary work.
Governor T.N. Chaturvedi has said that Dr. Modi strove for
the eradication of blindness with a missionary zeal.
M. Mallikarjun Kharge, President of the Karnataka Pradesh
Congress Committee and Water Resources Minister, said Dr. Modi's eye camps were
a revolutionary step in medical care.
Finance and Industries Minister P.G.R. Sindhia, Chairman of
the Legislative Council V.R. Sudarshan, and Union Minister of State for
Planning M.V. Rajasekharan have paid tributes to Dr. Modi.
His philosophy of life
For Modi, his mission was spiritual.
"I see myself as a poojary. The patient is my god, every village is
my place of pilgrimage, the operating table is my shrine and my instruments are
the accessories of worship," says the sprightly surgeon who lives a
spartan existence.
He use
to organises three camps a month - two days are kept for operations in each
camp. "I am always on the move,'' he had told a journalsit. A stickler for
hygiene, he has a success rate of 99.5 per cent - the odd case of failure is
because of the patient's ignorance. For instance, one villager gave his son's
urine instead of his own for the pre-operative tests. Later complications arose
as he was a diabetic. A man of few needs, Modi use to find little time for his
family.
His wife Leela and son Amarnath who lived
in Dharwar saw him sometimes only twice a year and that too because an eye camp
is being held in that area. In fact, Modi has no idea how his wife and son
managed. And Amarnath's school fees are actually paid by the doctor's friends.
"I serve the poor. God takes care of all the other arrangements," said
Modi modestly.
After 45 years of service, the doctor is not tired. He has never postponed or cancelled his eye camps. "How can I rest when I know that every minute I work I can save a poor villager," says the crusading missionary who is now busy on a new project for the rehabilitation of the disabled to make them self-reliant.
Asked if he had any unfulfilled ambitions, Modi said: "My only desire is that I should be useful till my last breath." No idle boast that, considering his unimpeachable track record of work amongst the sightless.
After 45 years of service, the doctor is not tired. He has never postponed or cancelled his eye camps. "How can I rest when I know that every minute I work I can save a poor villager," says the crusading missionary who is now busy on a new project for the rehabilitation of the disabled to make them self-reliant.
Asked if he had any unfulfilled ambitions, Modi said: "My only desire is that I should be useful till my last breath." No idle boast that, considering his unimpeachable track record of work amongst the sightless.
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