The Good Doctor of PGI, Chandigarh: How his spinal injury made this 29-year-old the most wanted psychiatrist at deaddiction clinic

THE TURNING POINT

2013 was a fateful year. Then a 19-year-old, Dr Makkar was a first-year MBBS student at a medical college in Mysuru, Karnataka, when a car crash during a trip back home at Ferozepur in Punjab left him with a spinal cord injury. There was severe nerve damage, limb paralysis, lung collapse and excruciating pain. Doctors told him his damage was irreversible as quadriplegia — which paralyses a person’s limbs and body from the neck down — kept him bed-bound. “I was advised rehabilitation at the Indian Spinal Injury Centre in Delhi. For five months I did physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational therapy and other activities. At first, I didn’t feel negative or depressed about the injury, thinking there was always a therapy to get me on my feet. But as days wore on, I lost hope. And I broke down the day I saw an aircraft over the institute’s skyline in between rehab sessions. That’s when I realised that I could not return to my medical college in Mysuru because my legs simply would not move. I had no sensation,” he recalls. So he decided to do the next best thing, training his mind, using his torso as much as he could in his wheeclchair and focussing solely on completing his MBBS course.

REBUILDING LIFE, BIT BY BIT

Dr Makkar had to deal with a gap year. His mother decided to be his support system, giving up her law practice, renting a house and given her son’s immobility, writing answers in the exam hall seated next to him. “But I couldn’t keep my friendships. If a party was on the top floor, my friends had to carry me and I didn’t want that,” he says.

So he made the next big decision, to undergo surgery and restore some movement in his limbs. “I underwent six operations and tendon transfers. Doctors stabilised my posture by inserting a plate in the bone that connects my torso to the pelvis. I had to be constantly alert about bedsores and deal with bouts of hospital-acquired urinary tract infections,” says Dr Makkar. “I could overcome my pain because I solely focussed on academics to make something more of myself beyond my physical limits,” he adds.

Dr Vidur Makkar with patients. (Express)

With his family coming together to chase a common goal, Dr Makkar graduated with first division and then went on to complete his MD from the Dharwad Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience. As he grew confident, his parents encouraged him to live on his own with a caregiver. “Gaurav has been with me for the last nine years, helping me become independent. I joined PGI about eight months ago as a senior resident because it was the work of the late Prof NN Wig, who founded the department here, that had inspired me to take up psychiatry years ago,” he says.

A PATIENT’S CONFIDANT

Now he draws on his experiences to counsel his patients. Not only that, he is working on filling rehabilitation gaps for survivors of spinal cord injuries. He has already done a community study on stress and depression in spinal cord injury patients. “Something as simple and basic as an access ramp can simplify our lives,” he says.

Dr Makkar’s survival guide

The young psychiatrist has a separate fitness routine as he has to sit for long hours and attend to patients. As he is still on medication and supportive therapies, he never compromises on physiotherapy to reduce spasms and pains. With restricted movements, he takes about three hours to get ready for his OPD. “I wake up at 5 am because I take time to get out of bed, exercise, shower and wear clothes. I follow a strict diet as I cannot exercise normally to offset my long sedentary hours. Diet has to be my primary source of weight management. I read, write and watch films to keep my spirits up. But my patients are my constant source of joy. They warm up because they can relate to my condition easily and think I would understand their fears and anxieties better. Perhaps, my condition has made me a compassionate doctor,” says Dr Makkar.

Right now, he has his hands full counselling young drug addicts. He recalls how he helped a fellow doctor deal with her severe depression and self-harming tendencies. “She had family issues and challenges at the workplace. Though I had many sessions, it was only when I shared my life’s journey with her that something moved the needle. She is now taking regular medication, doesn’t miss therapy and is on the road to recovery. These are gratifying experiences and are healing me too,” shares Dr Makkar. His colleagues are sensitive to his needs, with some offering to do his night shifts but Dr Makkar wants to go through all of it as he can now write prescriptions, albeit in a laboured manner. “My patients depend on me for hope and happiness. What they don’t realise is that I depend upon them too,” he adds.