On the way to the popular hill station of Mussorie, there stands a small hospital on the four-acre bizarre and incomplete children’s science park campus. The small building standing amidst the green is dedicated to providing medical help to the people of the hills, which also include those suffering from burns or injuries inflicted by animals.
Yogi Aeron, an 80-year-old doctor, is the ‘god’ for all the suffering patients who seek help there. Aeron has been treating patients for disfigured or burnt faces for over 25 years now without fees. Now, as a reward for his good deeds, the unsung hero has been conferred with the Padma Shri award, this year.
Born in Muzaffarnagar district in the year 1937, Aeron graduated from King George Medical College in Lucknow. In 1982, he travelled to the United States get to specialise in plastic surgery. “My sister who practised in the US-supported me to get desired exposure in the field. That helped me immensely,” added Aeron. Residing in Malsi, 10 km from Dehradun on Mussoorie road, Aeron starts his day with lining up his appointments with his assistant who has been with him since the last 27 years.
Aeron has been running a two-week camp twice a year since 2006. Patients below the poverty line are treated for disfigured lips, cheeks, nose and other parts of the face during these camps. In this venture, Aeron gets assistance and support from a team of 15-16 US-based doctors. They perform close to 10 surgeries a day during the camps. The Americans bear all the costs: they have never seen the kind of cases they see in India and at some level the experience is invaluable.
Roughly 350 other surgeries are done by Aeron (assisted by his an assistant who has been with him over 25 years and one of his sons whenever he can spare time) around the year so a total of 500 surgeries on the burn and bite victims are performed in a year (including the camps). “These are the surgical procedures; the number of patients is less as one patient can need up to 10 surgeries sometimes”, he explains. Burns like this or bites result in multiple deformities and need a treatment plan.
Even the local and government hospitals in the area redirect the most complicated cases to be under his expertise. There’s a huge waiting list for treatment.
As a result, over 5000 surgeries have been done in the last ten years or so – each mould is preserved there for anyone to see. They have 10,000 patients on the waiting list for free treatment mostly from the remote Himalayas. Of these, six at present are children who were burnt on the day they were born. He’s planning to publish at the atlas of 50 patients with the treatment offered and the possible courses of treatment not taken – which others could learn from – but he’s not sure if and when it will happen.
When asked about winning the award, the renowned Himalayan doctor humbly remarked, “That’s fine but I have thousands of patients in my waiting list. I hope some help will arrive for them too.”

Source: New Indian Express, The Logical Indian,Your story.

Image credits: Dainik Bhaskar

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