Sushma Priya at the Hill View Nursing Home. Picture by Hardeep Singh

The path to where Sushma stands today is dotted with difficulties. Sushma, however, is visibly nostalgic as she talks about the tough times. ?During those years (early 60s), girls in Saharsa remained indoors. I was the only girl in the entire Saharsa Zila School. My father had a difficult time convincing school authorities that I needed to be educated. The situation was such that the school never thought of a girl in uniform,? says Sushma.

Sushma didn?t give in. She did her schooling then and pursued a degree in medicine at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital in Saharsa. She was helped by renowned academician Pandit Jeev Lal Mishra. ?I will always be indebted towards Panditji, who later became the principal of Saharsa Zila School. As for my father, I cannot express my gratitude in words.?

Not to mention, her father is also her role model. ?Not because I am his child, but because of the qualities I saw in him,? Sushma, second among five siblings, asserts. ?His thoughts were ahead of times. He never showed any bias towards my brothers. He gave me a freedom and maintained an encouraging attitude, which played a vital role in me becoming a doctor,? says the proud daughter of a man who abhorred gender inequalities.

The atmosphere at home was based around academics and children competed with each other to prove themselves better. ?I competed with my brother even though he was two years senior. I tried to gather more knowledge than him,? says Sushma.

Married to Vinod Priya, also a doctor, Sushma now is completely devoted to her nursing home. Daughter Urvashi has been married and son Nitish is about to.

Sushma says that her nursing home?s popularity is the direct result of hard work, caring attitude and patience. ?The idea of opening a nursing home was conceived when we came across a to-let advertisement in 1993. Upon a closer look, my husband saw that the advertisement was for a house next to his official quarter.? The couple took the place on rent and established a hospital with five beds,? says Sushma.

News spread and people came forward to help her financially. ?We have been helped by so many people. When the nursing home began functioning, we were in difficult times financially. Our goodwill helped ? even generators were provided to us free initially,? said Sushma.

With time and success, in 1995, Sushma moved on to a bigger nursing home. Now, she plans to attach an orthopaedic unit to her hospital.

She has interesting tales to tell about her years as a doctor. ?At times, the situation becomes emotional. I remember a patient from Ramgarh who came to my office with his pregnant wife. I took up the case even though many of the nursing home staff opposed my decision. His wife delivered twins. The most interesting part is that he has named one of his sons Hill View Yadav,? says a proud Sushma.

Husband Vinod also devotes a lot of time to the nursing home that specialises in child birth. ?Once a doctor came across a lovely child in the hospital. When he asked for the child?s name, the father said ?Vinod Priya?. He was impressed with my husband's sense of duty. He went on to add that he would have named the child Sushma Priya had it only been a daughter,? says Sushma.

Sushma credits a significant part of her success to her husband, who, she says, played a vital role in shaping her career. ?We, as a family, value our togetherness more than our respective careers. Our children too have developed a similar mentality,? she says. True, Nitish, who is presently pursuing a postgraduate degree in orthopaedics, insisted on living with the family in the city when he could have settled abroad, considering his academic qualifications.

Though she has handled a vast number of cases, a few have left a lasting mark. ?There was this incident when two kids in their school uniform dropped their lady teacher in my nursing home and left. The lady was senseless and pale. I immediately diagnosed the symptom as that of ectopic pregnancy, something which can be fatal if the patient is not operated upon immediately,? said Sushma. ?Even though my staff opposed me, I operated on her immediately.? The lady's husband was informed after the operation.

?Although she was saved, there is a high probability of such operations not being successful,? Sushma admits. ?To my surprise, when I later asked her husband if he would have filed a case had his wife died on the operation table, he was true enough to say ?yes?.?

S. Shekhar