Service to mankind is service to god, goes a saying. Only a handful of people follow this motto. One among them is Dr. J. Mohan, senior plastic surgeon of Chennai.
‘Vaidyo Narayano Hari’. Medical profession is considered a noble one and the doctors have been equated to God. A doctor should have qualities like compassion, caring, giving, sharing, concern, helping, etc. A doctor is supposed to treat a person irrespective of caste, creed, religion, financial status, or social status. His sole concern is to remove the miseries of the suffering patients. His service should be selfless and not oriented towards publicity. Dr.Mohan is an epitome of all these noble qualities.
He has rendered free service to many poor patients, especially during his stint at the Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, and is still continuing the drive even after retirement. In fact, he will donate cash to poor patients to buy medicines and for conveyance and food.
Also, he spends a part of his earnings for educating the poor students who deserve a helping hand. Many a time, he himself has paid the school fees and college fees for these students.
Being a philanthropist, he regularly donates for spiritual activities. He is a regular donor for the programmes at Sri Ahobila Mutt and Srimad Andavan Ashram. Often he will visit these mutts to seek the blessings of Ahobila Mutt Jeeyar Sri Azhagiya Singar and Srimad Andavan Swamygal. Dr.Mohan also keenly takes part in social service.
Noble family
Dr. Mohan was born into a family of noble standing on July 31, 1955 at Triplicane in Chennai. His parents are R. Jagannathan and Saroja. Though he was named Parthasarathy, he was called Mohan.
Dr. Mohan’s father Jagannathan hailed fromKalyanapuram near Thanjavur. He worked as a purchase officer in MICO Bangalore. He was a commerce graduate from Vivekananda College, Chennai. Dr. Mohan’s mother Saroja hailed from Anbil near Lalgudi. Dr. Mohan’s father had 4 brothers and his mother had 2 sisters and 3 brothers. It was a big family.
Dr. Mohan had his schooling at the renowned Baldwin Boys’ High School in Bengaluru. Later he joined the famous Vijaya College in Bengaluru. He joined B.E mechanical and within 3 months he got selected for medicine course at the Government Medical College, Bellary. Dr. Mohan completed his graduation in 1978 and during internship, he got a marriage proposal. He married LathaNarasimhan on June 9, 1978. Latha’s father Narasimhan hailed from Naduvakarai in Kumbakonam district. Narasimhan was a commerce graduate and worked as Income Tax officer in Salem. He was known for his honesty and integrity.
Apart from being dedicated to his profession, Narasimhan was highly dedicated to his family. Along with his wife, Mrs. Madhura (sister of VimalaRangachari of Hyderabad), who hails from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, Narasimhan strove hard to bring up his 4 children and also fostered 3 of his deceased brother’s children. Both Narasimhan and Madhura ensured that all the 7 children got best education, care and amenities. Latha was a Chemistry graduate and was aspiring to become a doctor as dreamt by her father. But the marriage came in her way. However, she was happy to be a wife of a doctor.
Dr. Mohan has 2 younger brothers and a sister. Latha has2 sisters and a brother. Mohan-Latha marriage was performed in a grand manner and almost all relativesfrom both sides attended the gala event.
Post-marriage, Dr. Mohan pursued postgraduation in general surgery and super specialisation in plastic surgery at Madurai. He joined government service as Assistant Surgeon and step by step rose to become a Professor and Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. Dr. Mohan retired from government service in 2013. He was lucky to have trained by doyens in plastic surgery – Dr. Sam Bose of Madurai and Dr. R. Venkatasami, the famous hand surgeon, and Dr. G. Balakrishnan.
Dr. Mohan and Latha have 1 son and a daughter. Their son Vijai Mohan is an engineering graduate and works as a senior software programmer atAmazon in Seattle, U.S. He has dual Master degrees to his credit. Vijai is married to Srinidhi Natasha and the couple has a cute little daughter, Rhiya, who is one and half years old. Srinidhi Natasha is a scholar inArchaeology at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Dr. Mohan’s daughter Prianka, who was called Deepa, did her graduation and postgraduation in psychology. She got married to AchuthanBabu, aerospace engineer from IIT-Kanpur. Achuthan is son of Mr. Babu& Mrs. Padmaja hailing from Tiruvendipuram in Cuddallore district. Achuthan&Prianka have been blessed with 2 children – the girl child is named Pragya, and the boy is named Prathyai. Achuthan& family havesettled in Denmark.
A doctorate for daughter
Dr. Mohan’s daughter Prianka, just before the delivery of Pragya, joined the full-time Ph.D. programme in Psychology at the famous Madras University. In spite of her antenatal ill-health and sufferings during both the pregnancies, Prianka was determined to complete her Ph.D. She was conferred Doctorate in Psychology on September 4, 2015. Prianka’s dream became a reality, thanks to her self-motivation and the able support from her mother, father, husband, in-laws, and children.
Dr. Mohan’s children and brother-in-law Sethuprasad (whom Dr. Mohan treats as a son) conducted the Shashtiabdhapoorthi function of Dr. Mohan (Shastiabdhapoorthi) on July 28, 2015 in a grand manner. For Dr. Mohan, the more he ages the more he becomes valuable. Age is no bar for him to continue the yeoman service to the needy
