Choosing to Stay: Building Healthcare in Rural India
What makes doctors give up high-paying city careers and stay for three decades in one of India’s most remote regions? In this episode of The Health Worker, Ram G. Vallath from the speaks with Dr. John Oommen and Mercy John, who chose to work in the largely Adivasi region of Bissam Cuttack, Odisha, instead of pursuing lucrative opportunities in India or abroad.
When they arrived, the realities were stark. Infant mortality stood at around 200 per 1,000 live births, and under-five mortality was close to 350 per 1,000 — meaning more than one in three children did not reach their fifth birthday. Referral hospitals were hundreds of kilometres away, and for most families, healthcare was simply out of reach.
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This conversation moves beyond inspiration to examine what it actually takes to build healthcare from the ground up in rural India. Johnny and Mercy reflect on running a hospital where patients are not required to pay before seeing a doctor, on building a nursing workforce in a place where trained faculty was almost impossible to find, and on designing a system where money is never allowed to become a barrier to care. They also speak about how community-led malaria control transformed child survival, and why they believe their years in Bissam Cuttack were not a sacrifice, but an investment that gave them far more than it took
This is not just the story of two doctors. It is the story of a community, an institution, and what becomes possible when people choose what is worthwhile over what is easy.
Credits
Akshay Ramuhalli, Bruce Lee Mani, Gorveck Thokchom, Kishor Mandal, Kruthika Rao, Narayan Krishnaswamy, Prashant Vasudevan, Ram Sheshadri, Sananda Dasgupta, Seema Seth, Shraddha Gautam, Supriya Joshi, and Velu Shankar.
Special thanks to Dr. John Oommen and Mercy John for being part of the episode.