Practicing as a doctor is a profession where knowledge, power, and heart come together. He or she is a person who gives people an opportunity for a healthy tomorrow. Dr Muskan Makwa, who has become the first woman doctor from the Siddi community in Gujarat, is considered a ray of hope for her community. People in the state believe that she will inspire many more girls from her community.
Elders of the Siddi community are of the opinion that Muskan will be undoubtedly the torchbearer of education, health and well-being for her community. Makwa is presently pursuing a one-year internship and wants to specialize in Gynecology to serve her community and the country.
According to 1981 census, the population of Siddi tribe was 54291. But the Siddis, who are designated as a Scheduled Tribe, are 8662, out of which 4417 are male and 4245 females, according to census 2001. The Siddis speak the Gujarati language within their kin circle as well as with outsiders. The Siddis are believed to be descendants of the Bantu tribe of East Africa. According to the 1831 census, the Siddis were brought to Gujarat by the Portuguese as laborers towards the end of the 17th century.
Dr Muskan, while speaking to Radiance, said, “During my senior secondary school in Sardar Patel Educational Institute Bhavnagar, I had in my mind to appear for NEET. After having passed 10+2, I then collected some books and study materials to prepare for NEET exams and luckily qualified. Then I was admitted to the government medical college in Bhavnagar. I have completed it and now I am pursuing one-year internship program and after sixmonths degree will be awarded.
On her plan for higher education and her role as a doctor, she said, “Right now I have in my mind to go for Post-Graduation in Gynecology. My subject of interest is Gynecology. The challenge the women in Bhavnagar and entire India are facing is Anemia, which has become a very common disease among females. In Gynecology, female health is of prime concern and it will remain so. In this regard I would like to create awareness among women, especially adolescent females, right from the beginning about nutrition and health.It will help a great deal to solve their problems. I believe that awareness is more important than medication and cure for female. It will improve their quality of life individually and that of their babies and even the entire family as well.”
On educational empowerment of women, Dr Muskan said, “Awareness is the most important again for the educational empowerment and then family support is also paramount. In the absence of family support, even if someone wants to do something, it may not be possible for him to do so. There should be awareness in the family that education of girl child is as much important as that of male child. I will say that educating a girl child is even more important than educating a boy because if we educate a male child, we will educate him alone but if we educate a girl child then we will educate a family.This is commonly said and it is true. If a female is educated then coming generation will automatically be educated.”
On the educational backwardness of her community, she said, “There is a lack of educational awareness coupled with some kind of social stigma in our society about girls. Our society has not mentally grown for the girls and there is a lot of reservations for them. But things are changing gradually. I will try to change the mindset in order to empower girls educationally which will eventually improve their quality of life and ultimately transform the present and coming generations.”
On community response towards her success, Dr Muskan said, “My success as Doctor was very well received. It brought smile on everybody’s face. My success will definitely help inspire many and change the thought process of our community to think for a better tomorrow. I wish to inspire many girls from our community to become successful in order to serve their community and the nation at large. I was able to see appreciation everywhere. My entire family was very happy which cannot be expressed in words. To me it was a dream come true.
“My family was very supportive despite financial constraint. My entire schooling was in financial crisis and I had to do a lot of adjustment. My brother and sister are presently studying. It was indeed a problem for my parents to manage all this under financial crisis. Despite challenges and financial problems, I kept on moving because I wanted to improve from the situation we were in. There was no looking back but to achieve something for our well-being,” she said on support from the family.
On financial crisis, Dr Muskan said, “There was some problem in my father’s job in Railways initially and because of that debt mounted on us, month after month. These days when a student is unable to pay fees, the parents are informed; but in our time a student was asked to stand up in the class for having not paid fees and sometime even asked to leave the class. It was very humiliating to hear in the presenceof the entire classthat my feewas not paid.”