Dr. Manish Goutam shares the same feelings, fears, and happiness as his patients while he treats them with all his heart

A broad mind, a generous heart, an unflinching will, a quiet steady determination, an inexhaustible energy and a total trust in one's mission—this makes a perfect doctor. The chief role of the doctor is, by various means, to induce the body to recover. His job is not just to treat his patients, but also to give him the courage to recover. Dr. Manish Goutam, not only offers a medical remedy to his patients, but, by all his heart he instills the will to fight in them. He goes beyond his duties to share the same feelings, fears and happiness as his patients often working for incredibly long hours, getting little rest to save lives.

Dr. Goutam is an alumnus of Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir Barganda Giridih, where he studied till the 5th standard, before his father got transferred to another city. After completing his 12th class examination, he went to Kota for medical entrance coaching. From Kota he cleared the medical entrance and took admission in People's College of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Bhopal to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in Dental Surgery.  He then cleared the Madhya Pradesh Dental/Medical Admission Test (MP DMAT) and completed his Masters of Dental Surgery from Bhopal. 

Dr. Goutam has a specialization in Maxillofacial Prosthodontics, which is a specialty of dentistry that deals with the rehabilitation of patients with acquired and congenital defects of the head and neck region. These range from minor to major functional disabilities combined with cosmetic disfigurement. He currently works at RIMS (Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences) Medical College in Ranchi, Jharkhand. 

Often he has to deal with cancer patients who are in a very critical state. “A cancer patient who had come to me was on a liquid diet for as long as 2 to 3 years. He had a surgery done, after which he could only consume liquid food through a pipe inserted through his nose to his throat. We did a prosthetic surgery of his nose and mouth and he was able to consume solid food after so many years”, recalled Dr. Goutam. 

Dr. Goutam also gets involved in a number of social activities. He runs regular medical camps in remote areas to help people quit smoking. “We organize health camps as well as run no tobacco campaigns, tobacco cessation training, cancer awareness camps, general awareness campaigns on health, and campaign on lady doctor security in remote areas”, mentioned Dr. Goutam. 

Tobacco is one of the main causes of cancer in India. Dr. Goutam not only offers pharmacological treatment to help people quit smoking, but also does a lot of counseling, often by sharing live cases of cancer patients. “When people see someone suffering, they quit smoking out of fear. This is helping people a lot to stay away from tobacco”, shared Dr. Goutam. He also rehabilitated many patients who lost their jaws, tongue and facial parts due to surgical treatment with prosthetic replacement to make their quality of life better.

The Covid times have been very challenging for all. RIMS being one of the largest hospitals of Ranchi, it has to deal with a number of Covid patients daily. These patients often come from remote villages and are almost always accompanied by their families. Dr. Goutam saw that due to the lockdown these people were not getting food. His deep empathy towards unprivileged sections of society led him to start a self-funded food distribution program throughout the lockdown for the families of the patients who were admitted at RIMS. This humanitarian service of Dr. Goutam became so popular that he was appreciated and thanked by the Health Minister of Jharkhand on social media platform twitter.

Dr. Goutam is also an accomplished researcher and has published numerous papers in world’s top medical journals. “Stepping ahead in Dental science I have accomplished academic research and published 30 international research papers till now in journals like Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry which is the official journal of American society of Prosthodontics”, mentioned Dr. Goutam.  Dr. Goutam is also the youngest doctor in India till date to have published a paper in the journal. “I published a paper on a patient whom I had treated. A 15 year old boy had come to me who in an accident had lost one of his eyes. I placed an artificial eye which would move, with the help of muscles, just like a normal eye”, recalled Dr. Goutam, who is also the editor in chief of Journal of Applied Dental and Medical Sciences. 

Dr. Goutam also offers free treatment to people of poor background or children and senior citizens who are not economically sound. He does all the treatment and bears the lab cost by himself to help this unprivileged section of society. Further, he along with his wife, Dr.Madhavi Singh, organizes free medical camps, where they offer free medical checkup and distribute free medicines to the needy since long back. Madhavi Singh is also a Dental Surgeon and owner of Dentica Dental clinic and Implant centre.

If you are a Vidya Bharati alumni and would like to share your experiences and achievements as well, please email us your contact details to info@vidyabharatialumni.org  and we will contact you back.