Member-only story
Healing the World: The Long Fight for Fair Healthcare
Dr.Vijayalakshmi Aluri, Winner of World Bank’s Projects competition, Author, Health Educator, Social worker and Gynecologist, Sri Sri Holistic Multi specialty Hospitals, Hyderabad.
The Bedside Realization
I was in my final year of medical school when I met Lakshmi.
She was 32, a mother of three, and worked as a housemaid in three homes. When she came to us, she had a high fever and shortness of breath. The diagnosis was tuberculosis, advanced, easily treatable — if caught earlier.
She hadn’t come in sooner because she couldn’t afford to miss a day of work. She had no health insurance. No access to regular check-ups. She lived 18 km from the nearest government hospital.
We treated her. She got better. But her story never left me.
That day, I stopped seeing medicine as just a science. I started seeing it as a mirror of society. Some people get quick care. Others wait until it’s almost too late. Not because they don’t value health — but because the system doesn’t value them.
