Sivan Sir and the Healing Power of Humility: A Lesson in Medicine and Life

Sivan Saaaar!

We will kill you! shouted the attenders. I had earlier shifted a 20-year- old boy from ward, when he developed acute breathing difficulty to the ICU.

It was several years back. I was doing my medicine training in a prestigious missionary hospital in the heartland of Tamil Nadu.

I was scared and nervous. My heart palpated and my whole body sweated, as I waited for my Unit head, Dr Sambusivan to come for rounds. 

Sivan sir was a middle-aged man, thin with a bald pate, except bushy hair growing on the sides of the head. He had a big prickly moustache and a calm, serene face, with a ready smile on his face. He was a terror to us, the students, but to the patients, he was God. 

 He had a reputation, miles around, for treating very serious patients and bringing them out miraculously. I had heard patients tell in awe, if all hopes are gone,  only Sivan sir can do magic.

He finished his rounds in the ICU.  After throughly examining the patient, and after putting me through the grinder, discussing the clinical management of the patient.

The irate attenders, including the mother of the young boy were waiting near Sivan sir's room. He politely offered the mother the chair, and asked her in chaste tamil... Amma tell me what happened, in a soft pleasant voice. 

The angry lady cooled down on hearing the soft, calm voice and poured her heart out with sobs in between.

Sivan sir, heard her without interrupting her once. Then calmly, he said, Amma I am not a magician to do magic. I will do all in my power to bring your son back to your hands, safe n healthy. I am not God, but whatever God has taught me, I will do to treat your son. 

The lady was pacified and bowed down saying, I trust u sir, and calmly left.

I was in the background, seeing Sivan sir's magic work on the irate attenders. I was amazed at how the angry situation had changed..

After the attenders left, he said to me, Son, never ever get angry with the attenders. Tell them the facts respectfully and put across to them that u will do everything to heal their patient and beyond that, it's God's will. 

A Doctor can Treat, but only God can Heal, he said. What a learning for me in medicine and about living one's life calmly, serenely and with all humility.

No wonder, Sivan sir was adored by his patients and treated like God. Do the best of your abilities and knowledge, and let God, the greatest physician ultimately Heal and cure the patient.... What a wisdom learnt..