Paths cross in noble mission - New Yorker and Assam doctor join hands to work for downtrodden A STAFF REPORTER
Steven Rubado (front row extreme right) and Sandeep Hanse (in pink shirt) at a medical camp Guwahati, May 31: One turned his back on a promising corporate career after realising that there is "more to life than making money". Another cut short his post-graduation in surgery when a bigger operation than the ones he was being trained for beckoned. Together, Steven Rubado from the US and Sandeep Hanse of Assam are now blazing a trail in social service and enriching their own lives with the happiness they have brought to others. Rubado, a business graduate from Bradford University, has tied up with an NGO set up by Hanse, who did his MBBS from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, to achieve their shared goal of helping the downtrodden. The American had initially planned to work in Gujarat and Rajasthan, but chose the Northeast because "it needs assistance more than other parts of India". Touring Assam with his pregnant wife Jane, Rubado is even trying to learn Assamese. As a consultant with the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation International, Rubados mission is to co-ordinate with Hanses NGO, the Committee on Socio-economic & Health Development in Assam, and maximise the effectiveness of the organisations healthcare initiatives. Apart from holding free healthcare camps and distributing medicines, the New Yorker is assisting Hanses NGO in drawing up strategies for disaster management and socio-economic empowerment. Another medical graduate, Dr Himajit Barman, has taken time off from post-graduate studies in ENT at Silchar Medical College to join in the mission. The team has so far covered Sonitpur, Darrang, Kamrup and Lakhimpur. The next phase of the project will be in Lower Assam. "Rubado has been silently working in Assam with his wife Jane. During our recent 15-day trip, we examined nearly 5,000 people and distributed medicines worth Rs 3 lakh. Being doctors, we are managing the healthcare component of the programme, while Rubado is involved in socio-economic development," Barman said. Contacted in Jorhat, where he is "unwinding" with a few friends, Rubado said he left New York because he no longer wanted to "lead a cosy life". For Hanse, the son of a retired school headmaster from Golaghat, social service has been a passion since the time he was a medical student and the social service secretary of the college union. Hanse dropped out of a post-graduate course in surgery after just six months. In Rubado and Barman, he has found the perfect allies and admirers. "I cannot say where I will be in a few years time, but the work begun by us will continue even if I am not there. Barman and Hanse will always be there. This mission is not about me, but the people of Assam and those like Barman and Hanse. They are sacrificing a lot," Rubado said.
