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Dr. TA Kanaga Rathinam, fondly known as the “Ten rupee doctor,” passed away on Saturday in Pattukottai, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. He was 96 years old and had been bedridden for the last five years due to age-related health issues.
For decades, Rathinam was a household name in the region, not just for his affordable fees but also for the sheer dedication he showed to his patients.
Who Was the ₹10 Doctor
Born in 1929 in Ammaiyappan in Tiruvarur district, Dr. Rathinam moved to Myanmar with his family and eventually settled in Pattukottai, a town in Tamil Nadu. He studied at Madras Medical College and began his medical career in 1957, charging just ₹2 for a consultation.
By 1968, he had established a full-time clinic in Periya Theru and slightly raised his fees to ₹5. As a trained gynecologist, he eventually fixed his consultation charges at ₹10 in the early 1990s, which remained unchanged till 2020, when he retired from practice after 68 years.
A Life of Service
Dr. Rathinam ran his clinic in Big Street, Pattukottai, and was visited by people from over 50 nearby villages. He even gave free treatment to those who couldn’t afford the ₹10 fee. It’s estimated that over his career, he handled nearly 50,000 to 60,000 childbirths.
In a conversation with The New Indian Express, N. Selvam, a retired headmaster and author of Dr. TAK Rathinam's biography, stated:
He ran the hospital on a service basis and he even provided free medicines to the people from a poor background. Since he collected only Rs 10 as a consultation fee and with his experience in taking care of normal childbirth, people especially from rural areas throng to his clinic.
N. Selvam, writer of Dr. TAK Rathinam's biography
In times of crisis, too, he stepped up. During the Indo-China war, he reportedly gave away 83 sovereigns of jewelry items meant for his daughter’s wedding for public funds collected by the government. And in the COVID-19 lockdown, he waived off ₹9 lakh rent for tenants in the commercial complex he owned next to his clinic.
Dr. Rathinam lived in Srinivasapuram with his wife K. Rajalakshmi and had four children—three daughters and a son. Many awards came his way over the years, but the love he received from his patients was unmatched. In fact, as a gesture of gratitude, many families named their children with “Rathinam” as a suffix.
A book titled “En Vergal. Vizhuthugal” is currently being written about him by Kottai Ambhidasan and retired headmaster N. Selvam, who stated that the doctor “worked without expectations.”
(Input From Various Sources)
(Rehash/Pooja Bansal/MSM)
