The Good Doctor Who Is Just A Call Away – Makka Doctor’s 18 Years Of Service In The Depths Of Kerala’s Forests

Amongst the children and people of the tribal Gavi ward, the kind and good doctor, J Vincent Xavier is referred to as the ‘Makka Doctor’. The origin or rather meaning of the term ‘Makka’ is ‘children’. The doctor himself calls out to every one of the people at Gavi as Makka irrespective of their age or gender, who in turn also call him as ‘Makka Doctor’ since he is the doctor who provides any and all medical help to the tribal people there.

Dr. Vincent Xavier himself is the medical officer at the primary health center at Seethathode which is a village in the Panthanamithitta district in the state of Kerala. Although Dr. Xavier’s roots make him a native from Nagercoil, a city in Tamil Nadu with a distance of approximately 200 kms between Nagercoil and Seethathode.

His father P John was a sales tax officer by profession whereas his mother K Nesammal was a teacher. Vincent was the youngest of five children in the house. With his siblings, 3 of which are sisters and a brother all being engineers, his parents dream for their youngest son was that he become a doctor. With that dream in mind, Vincent made sure to turn it into reality and fulfill his parents’ wish.

Vincent completed his MBBS from Tirunelveli Medical College in the year 1990 followed by which he worked at his hometown’s local hospital for over 10 years. He then went on to marry his now wife Mini, who was a resident of Thiruvananthapuram, a city in Kerala and this was when he settled down in the state. By the year 2003 came by, he received a job from the Kerala health department. This was when his time and journey at Seethathode started.

The now 55-yar-old Vincent has completed a service of 18 years so far in the Seethathode Panchayat’s forests. Of the entire area of the village, majority of it is covered with forests leaving nothing like roads and streets to be a part of one’s travel to get to the Gavi people. And Dr. Xavier being available for every beck and call for any medical emergencies at the village does so by travelling through the dense and deep woods filled with all sorts of wild animals roaming through the forest area.

Not being accustomed to the thought and presence of travelling on the routes where wild animals treaded, Dr. Xavier was understandably scared about his job at first. The tribal people of Gavi lived in the deeper areas of the forests and thus the existence of wild animals was not really surprising however, as a resident of the city, it sure made D. Xavier a bit uneasy to say the least.

Regardless of the worries, it was the doctor’s job to provide medical care to the people in these parts of the Seethathode area and although he did consider the thought of leaving the job or getting transferred elsewhere, he had a change in heart soon enough. This was after he saw the living condition of the people in the tribal area, they were poor, and their living state was unsuitable and inconvenient to put it mildly. And this was when Dr. Xavier knew that it was right place for him to be and serve the people there.

The doctor today goes on to say, “It Is painful for me to stay away from the area even for a day”. With a total of 120 tribal families from Moozhiyar and Gavi who do not have a fixed habitat and live a wanderer’s life same as a nomad. And even though that might be tedious for many, Dr. Vincent does make the travel and check on his patients regularly and as per their needs. While being a doctor may be his foremost requirement amongst the tribal people, he also carries with him other food items and sweets at times for the children there.

The people of Gavi rest assured with his presence and offer nothing but kind words for the doctor, some even seeing him as a fatherly figure. May it be rain or sunshine, the doctor never ceases to drop by and help the people when they need his assistance.

The residents are thankful to him and believe that despite medical infrastructures or a proper hospital in the depths of the jungle, they surely have a good doctor by their side. The residents are nothing but proud to have a doctor as good as Xavier just a call away.