This Doctor waives off delivery charges if it's a girl child

Dr Ganesh Rakh’s father was a labourer. While his journey of becoming a doctor is quite interesting, the course he has taken after becoming a successful doctor is even more inspiring. In the year 2007, he set up a 25-bed Medicare General and Maternity Hospital in the Hadapsar suburb of Pune. The intent of starting the hospital was to help the underprivileged patients. Today his hospital has grown, and so has the intensity of his work.

In a bid to fight female infanticide in his area, he has ensured no that his hospital does not charge any fees if the infant delivered is a girl. Till date, in hundreds of deliveries, both normal and caesarian, maternity charges have been waived off. In fact, the entire hospital celebrates the birth of the girl child by distributing sweets in the hospital. In an interview with Deccan Herald, Dr Rakh told that female infanticide “is rampant because regressive social norms are not only anti-women but are even anti-girl child. As a medical professional I have seen the torture that a mother undergoes when she comes to know that she has delivered a girl.”

What is even more inspiring his how his act has now snowballed into a social movement of sorts, an effect that even he didn’t foresee. “After reading media reports about my work, I was contacted by nearly 17-18 gram panchayats and hundreds of doctors who have not only promised to stop sex determination tests and abortions but welcome girl children by motivating families,” Dr Rakh told the DNA. As of date, nearly 3,000 doctors from the interiors of Maharashtra have joined his cause of fighting social biases and prejudices against the girl child.