At the age of 17, Ganesh Baraiya has often been mistaken for a toddler due to his 3ft 1ins height and child-like features but he’s determined it will not stop him one day becoming a doctor.
But despite Ganesh’s top grades the Medical Council of India (MCI) recently refused his admission to study medicine due to his dwarfism.
Devastated, Ganesh took his application to India’s Supreme Court and finally, last month, he won the right to study to become a doctor.
Ganesh, from Talaja taluka, in Bhavnagar district, in Gujarat, western India, was born normal but at the age of four his parents – mother Devuben Baraiya, 53, and father Viththal Bhai Baraiya, 58 – noticed his head was growing bigger than his body.
They consulted pediatricians but every doctor they met said there was nothing they could do and he had a genetic condition that was incurable.
Mother Devuben said: ‘We prayed many times at the temple and we even even travelled 300km to pray at a special temple but nothing changed. In the end I had to put a tub on his head – like a hat – to try to stop his head growing to give his body a chance to catch up.’
In the end I had to put a tub on his head – like a hat – to try to stop his head growing to give his body a chance to catch up.’
Once, Viththal, who works as a farmer earning 100 Rs a day, was offered 100,000 Rs (£1,000) for Ganesh to join the circus as a clown. He was devastated and it made him nervous about allowing Ganesh to go anywhere alone, especially school, in case he was kidnapped so he decided to accompany him to class and sit with him during every lesson.
Ganesh spent all his time studying and showed signs of intelligence from an early age. While some students teased him and laughed at him, others would help him carry his bag and accompany him to the toilet in case he fell as he can’t walk properly.
Eventually Viththal admitted Ganesh into a school owned by Dalpat Kataria who became a huge support for Ganesh.
Ganesh said: ‘People used to always make fun of me and I was always the butt of their jokes. I didn’t care what people said about me, it was irrelevant. I had plans in life and I was determined to make them happen.’
Ganesh decided he wanted to become a doctor from an early age. And with the help of Dalpat, Ganesh went on to get top grades at school and then applied to study a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS) and scored well in the The National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET).
But once the the Medical Council of India (MCI) found out they refused Ganesh’s right to study medicine due to his size, concluding that he wouldn’t be able to perform emergency cases in practice and special arrangements would have to be made for him.
Ganesh was categorized as ‘physically handicapped’ due to his dwarfism. But he scored 223 marks in the NEET against the 86 cut-off mark required for his category. And when he underwent a medical test, as per requirement of the MCI, its panel rejected it without giving any reason.
‘I was very disappointed,’ Ganesh said. ‘But I refused to accept their refusal.’
Thankfully Ganesh had the encouragement from Dalpat, as well as his financial support to pay for the 400,000 Rs (£4,000) legal fees to fight his cause.
Dalpat said: ‘The first time I met him I saw his passion and his dream. I also found him brilliant, so I decided to invest my time on his studies. I consider him my second child and will support him until he becomes the medical practitioner that he so desperately wants.’
Ganesh appealed the MCI’s decision but again, he was rejected. He even submitted an appeal with the court of his state, Gujarat High Court. And his final attempt was with the Supreme Court, which finally decided in his favour on October 22.
Ganesh added: ‘I am very happy that I got justice from the Supreme Court. Now I can fulfil the dream I’ve had since childhood. I know I’m different but I want to live a good life like other people and make my parents proud.
‘I hope life will be good at college but if people continue to laugh at me, I will courageously face them as I always have.’
Ganesh is now eligible for admission to any government medical college in his state but will apply to his local Bhavnagar Medical College in the coming year. Dalpat will pay for his education fees.
One day Ganesh hopes to become the shortest doctor in the world and be recognised by the book of Guinness World Records.
