Dr. Noori Parveen started her clinic in 2020 and charged only Rs 10 for consultation. She kept her clinic open even during Covid-19 to look after her patients.
Noori Parveen is being acclaimed as ‘Mother Teresa of Kadapa’ for her contribution to the community through her clinic. The 29-year-old says, “I set my cost at Rs 10 because everybody can afford it, says Noori, whose clinic is in an area dominated by daily gamblers.’
Noori, the MBBS doctor in the Chilakalabavi neighbourhood of Kadapa town in Andhra Pradesh, opened Dr Noori Parveen Hospita in February 2020. Word immediately spread about the ‘Rs 10 doctor,’ and patients began to come in.
However, she was forced to close the clinic after the government declared a statewide lockdown to combat Covid in March 2020, just about a month after she began. But, as a kind person, she couldn’t stand by and watch people suffer due to a lack of medical attention. As a result, she reopened her clinic in a matter of weeks.
Noori says, “During the lockdown, we kept the clinic open,” and argues that as a doctor, if she does not care about the public’s health, who will?
Noori also handed out hundreds of food packets and ration kits to persons who had lost their jobs as a result of the lockout.
Noori works at the hospital during the day and spends the night there. The clinic began with three beds and has grown to 25 beds with ten workers, including a junior doctor, a gynaecologist, and nurses.
If a patient has to see a specialist, Noori will bring the specialist to her facility and charge the patient Rs 10 for the consultation.
She has created this agreement to assist people who would otherwise have to seek out a specialist and incur additional costs for treatment.
People initially suspected her of being a forgery because she offered such a low amount.
She claims, “They assumed I wasn’t a qualified doctor, so I charged Rs 10.”
Noori is from a low-income family. She grew up in Vijayawada, where she attended a government school in Urdu until Class 10 before switching to English in higher secondary.
In 2011, she passed the medical admission exam and was admitted to Fathima Institute of Medical Sciences in Kadapa.
Noori’s grandfather was a well-known communist leader, and she, too, wished to enter politics, but her father discouraged her, pointing out that politics was no longer pure.
Even while in college, Noori began volunteering for several NGOs and began donating food, clothing, and books to children from marginalised groups.
Following her MBBS, she pursued a Fellowship in Critical Care Medicine and worked at a few private hospitals until opening her own clinic last year. Noori began the clinic without first alerting her parents.
They learned about her endeavour, though, when the local media began covering her work. Noori’s parents are still renting a property in Vijayawada. I believe it is our responsibility to assist others. Noori’s monthly obligations outweigh her earnings.
She pays a rent of Rs 50,000 for the hospital building in addition to salaries for her employees and EMIs on the medical equipment she has purchased. When asked how she controls her own spending, Noori explains that she used to be very concerned about her clothes and beauty.
Noori believes that if you serve others,the One Almighty God will help you and provide for your needs. Noori claims she has yet to meet a good life partner since all of the men she has met have rejected her because she is always working and has no plans to leave her social service.
In fact, she intends to open at least one hospital in each of the state’s districts. Andhra Pradesh’s primary healthcare system is deplorable.
Dr. Noori Parveen says, “My hospitals would assist the economically disadvantaged parts have better access to healthcare facilities with just Rs 10.”
