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It's unfortunate that they don't have a transcript available, yet - I was just listening to Speaking in Maine* on my way home (came home early because I wasn't feeling so hot) and heard a delightful little story about a doctor who did vasectomies in India, and phonetically I thought the doctor's name was Dadapai, but I really can't be sure.
It seems the doctor was only getting a few patient - higher income people - and he thought that the general population just didn't know about the operation, so he put up an advertisement at the train station, on Platform 9. This advertisement talked about different kinds of contraception, and had a place where men who were interested could sign or put their thumbprint to say that they were interested in having a vasectomy on Friday afternoon at a specific hospital, and it may even have been free.
A lot of thumbprints and signatures appeared on the ad, but on Friday only a couple of guys showed up. And it went on like this for a couple of weeks, so finally the doctor went to Platform 9 and when he saw a man put his thumbprint on the ad he went up to the man and asked him, "You're interested, you want this vasectomy?"
The man said, "Of course! I have five children and we're living on the street, I have no idea how we can get by day to day, I don't want to have any more kids!"
"Are you going to show up at the hospital on Friday?"
And the guy sort of deflated and said, "Probably not."
The doctor was so appalled he actually grabbed and shook the man. "How can you be so stupid!!"
"What? Is this operation safe? Why do I have to go to a hospital for it?" The problem was, in India, certainly at that time, you went to a hospital to die.
The doctor felt terrible that he'd been so impulsive, so he said, "Look, if I come here and do this operation on Platform 9, do you still want it?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll be here Friday afternoon."
So he showed up on Friday afternoon, with a little tent and a mobile sterilizing setup and all his tools, and he did the vasectomy there, and carried on doing vasectomies there every Friday afternoon, and in one month he'd done more than all the hospitals in India did in a year. And Dr. Malcom Potts, who told this story, said he was sure it was true because he himself learned to do vasectomies on Platform 9.
:)
So anyway, now I'm going to probably take a walk in this gorgeous weather and relax. Maybe I'll even see if I can find a shady place to do some stretching.
--------------------------------------------
(*August 5, 2011 - Speaking in Maine takes us to Waterville and Colby College, for an address by Dr. Malcolm Potts, Chair of the Population and Family Planning Department at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. His topic is People and the Planet - Why Population Matters )
It seems the doctor was only getting a few patient - higher income people - and he thought that the general population just didn't know about the operation, so he put up an advertisement at the train station, on Platform 9. This advertisement talked about different kinds of contraception, and had a place where men who were interested could sign or put their thumbprint to say that they were interested in having a vasectomy on Friday afternoon at a specific hospital, and it may even have been free.
A lot of thumbprints and signatures appeared on the ad, but on Friday only a couple of guys showed up. And it went on like this for a couple of weeks, so finally the doctor went to Platform 9 and when he saw a man put his thumbprint on the ad he went up to the man and asked him, "You're interested, you want this vasectomy?"
The man said, "Of course! I have five children and we're living on the street, I have no idea how we can get by day to day, I don't want to have any more kids!"
"Are you going to show up at the hospital on Friday?"
And the guy sort of deflated and said, "Probably not."
The doctor was so appalled he actually grabbed and shook the man. "How can you be so stupid!!"
"What? Is this operation safe? Why do I have to go to a hospital for it?" The problem was, in India, certainly at that time, you went to a hospital to die.
The doctor felt terrible that he'd been so impulsive, so he said, "Look, if I come here and do this operation on Platform 9, do you still want it?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll be here Friday afternoon."
So he showed up on Friday afternoon, with a little tent and a mobile sterilizing setup and all his tools, and he did the vasectomy there, and carried on doing vasectomies there every Friday afternoon, and in one month he'd done more than all the hospitals in India did in a year. And Dr. Malcom Potts, who told this story, said he was sure it was true because he himself learned to do vasectomies on Platform 9.
:)
So anyway, now I'm going to probably take a walk in this gorgeous weather and relax. Maybe I'll even see if I can find a shady place to do some stretching.
--------------------------------------------
(*August 5, 2011 - Speaking in Maine takes us to Waterville and Colby College, for an address by Dr. Malcolm Potts, Chair of the Population and Family Planning Department at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. His topic is People and the Planet - Why Population Matters )