Meet IAS Topper Bihari Doctor Dr Gautam Goswami

PATNA: Meet Dr Gautam Goswami, MBBS. Also a gold medalist in MD, he has decided to do some social service through his medical qualification. The physician in Goswami will see the patients suffering from HIV and AIDS and provide them counselling free of cost. At Vaccine House in Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayn Bhavan, he will give two-hour time four days a week. On Saturdays and Sundays, he will be available from 10 to 12 noon and on Wednesdays and Thursday between 6 to 8 pm. The HIV/AIDS clinic will start from Saturday. Goswami is the same IAS official who was Patna DM only three years back. But he went in hibernation after he was released from prison. He was an accused in a scam. "God provided me this opportunity to serve the people," said Goswami, who, after being released from jail on bail is serving with the headquarters under department of personnel and administrative reforms. "Since I am yet to get a posting, I have plenty of time and I want to utilise it in the service of humanity," Goswami told TOI, adding this would also satisfy him. "If Dr B C Roy being chief minister of West Bengal and Dr C P Thakur being Union health minister could see patients, I also want to follow their footsteps," he said. Stressing on qualitative treatment, Goswami said in private there are very few physicians exclusively treating HIV/AIDS patients. Like its treatment, the counselling is also expensive. Counselling, he said, is a big part of the treatment and "I’m here to provide free of cost." Goswami has been in the limelight several times. When he was Patna DM during last Lok Sabha polls, he went straight to BJP star campaigner LK Advani on the dais at Gandhi Maidan and asked him to stop his speech, saying "the deadline had expired". He was selected one of the 20 Asian Heroes by TIME magazine. But from that height he fell down suddenly when he was accused in the flood relief scam. "The case is lying with the vigilance court and still not opened," he said. He avoided further questions on the status of the case saying several top politicians and Bollywood actors are also facing cases but that do not affect their professional capability and acceptability. "Court cases and problems are in everybody’s life and that should not adversely affect their career," he said philosophically. Goswami said he would try his best to motivate and impress the patients and provide them best counseling and help cut short unnecessary expenses. This exclusive HIV/AIDS clinic will also make data inventory and documentation, keeping the identity of the patients secret.