In Ambasamuthiram, Tirunelveli district, a doctor named Aadhi Maari Maruthu has been providing free medical services to children and the elderly without charging any money.
Thiruvalluvar has eloquently described the physician who cures disease in the chapter titled “Medicine.”
Examine the disease, examine its cause, and then seek the means
that will cure it, and apply the remedy accordingly (948)
The physician must first identify the patient’s illness from its symptoms; second, investigate and understand the cause of that illness in the proper manner; and after that, learn the way to cure it. Then, the appropriate treatment must be carried out without any mistake in that method.
The one who is near the patient, the one who administers the remedy, and the one who goes to fetch it
These four alone constitute medicine (950)
Medicine consists of four parts: the patient, the physician, the medicine, and the attendant who stays with and helps the patient.
Through these two couplets, Thiruvalluvar has explained the physician and the proper methods of treatment.
In today’s world, medicine has changed from a service-oriented profession into a big business. From small clinics to large hospitals, the practice has become one of making patients extremely helpless and sucking money from them as if draining their blood.
Although many films and news reports have exposed the corruption in the medical field, malpractice continues unabated.
In such times, here and there, there are still doctors who provide proper, necessary medical care with a humane approach.
In Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district, a doctor named Aadhi Mari Maruthu has been providing medical treatment for children, youngsters, and senior citizens above the age of 80 without charging any money for the past five years.

Adhi Mari Maruthu is the second son of Ramamoorthy and Valliyammal, a couple from Pannaikulam village near Vedasandur in Dindigul district. With the meager income they earned by working under the 100-day employment scheme, they educated their son up to 12th standard at the government higher secondary school in the town of G. Ramanathapuram.
Bright in studies, Adhi Mari Maruthu scored 1,165 marks in the 12th standard public examination and emerged as the top student among government schools in Dindigul district. Knowing Adhi Mari Maruthu’s interest in studies, many teachers from the government higher secondary school in G. Ramanathapuram have come forward to help him.
When his father Ramamoorthy was bedridden due to ill health, his elder brothers, Sankarapandian and Pal Pandian, both gave up their studies, went to work, and supported him through school until the 12th grade.
After that, his teachers competed with one another to fulfill his wish of joining a medical course. From applying for the medical course to attending the interview and choosing the medical college, they stayed by his side and helped with everything, delighted to do so.
After she got a seat at the Tirunelveli Government Medical College to study medicine, they brought her there and continued to support her until she completed her studies.
Shortly after she joined the college, a medical professor recognized Aadhi Mari Marudhu’s talent and helped her buy the books needed for her studies until she finished the course.
While she was studying in her fifth year, a professor encouraged her to pursue postgraduate studies and helped by paying the fee to take the NEET exam.
Doctor Aadhi Maari Maruthu, who completed his medical degree, has revived the determination to fulfill the dream he had since childhood of providing medical care to everyone either free of charge or at a low cost.
While thinking about where and how to begin his service, his friends Sundar and Chandru from Ambasamudram came forward to help Aadhi Maari Maruthu realize his goal.
With the belief that service does not have to be done only in one’s hometown, he began his free medical service in Ambasamudram in 2021.
There is no consultation fee for children, boys, and patients over the age of 80. For others, the fee is only Rs. 100. He started his service with this fee and has been running it for the past five years.
We met Dr. Aadhi Mari Maruthu in person to speak with him and learn about him and his vision. He is providing his medical services under the name Adish Hospital in a section of the commercial complex opposite Karur Vysya Bank in Ambasamudram. When we went there and saw it, it was evident that he was offering his medical services in a simple manner in a room measuring ten by ten feet.
When speaking with him during a break in treatment, he said that when he was a boy and fell ill and had to go to the hospital, the medical expenses would be between Rs. 250 and Rs. 300.
That amount was a very large sum for us. If we had that money, we could eat good food for many days, so the thought that such a large amount was needed for medical expenses at one time made us worry.
When my parents fell ill, they would buy tablets for five or ten rupees from medical shops and take them, thinking that going to a doctor would be expensive. Is this right? And if it is, I also wondered how much hardship people in very humble circumstances like ours would have to face to get medical treatment.
Along with that, I felt that we must change this situation as much as we can. The thought deeply took root in my mind that those who study medicine and come from humble backgrounds should provide free medical care for children.
Accordingly, I passed the 12th standard public examination as the top student among government schools in Dindigul district. Many of the teachers who taught me were a great support to my dream of becoming a doctor, and they happily provided all the help needed to make me a doctor, he said.
Continuing, when I started medical service here, there was no major publicity or strong backing, so the number of patients coming in was very low. But a few people who came for treatment spoke about my medical care to others they knew, and as they kept spreading the word, the number of patients coming in has increased today.
I do not charge children, youngsters, or elderly people who come to me for medical treatment. I provide the necessary tablets and medicines in the required quantity at the proper price. Therefore, many people receive treatment with joy and recover their health.
After I started free medical service here, there was no major opposition. However, a few people indirectly tried to obstruct the service. I faced all of that bravely. Even if obstacles come in the future, I will face them too, he said with determination.
Now, many people from the small villages who used to come to me for treatment have stopped going to those who practice medicine in the wrong way and make money without properly studying medicine. That is the best reward for the service I do.
Today, many of the elders who come to me for treatment often love me so much that they address me affectionately and familiarly as “son” and even “grandchild.” Every time they come, they bring me, with affection, the snacks and food items they have or have made, just as they would take them when going to visit their relatives. This love is enough for me.
My father passed away six months after I joined medical school. Until I finished studying, my mother worked in the hundred-day employment scheme. Now she is with me.
After my father’s death, my elder brother took on the responsibility of the family. Being a construction worker, he has helped my education as much as he could. Now, I am supporting his daughter’s education.

The seed planted in my mind in childhood has, with the help of my family, teachers, and friends, grown into a tree today. It will grow into a great tree through the patients who come to me as well. The happiness and peace I get from this are enough for me.
Excessive money can make a person stray from humanity. So, because I hold the belief that having just enough money for my life is sufficient, I will continue free medical service throughout my life.
He said in a voice full of confidence that if he gets a government job, then he intends to provide completely free medical service to everyone who comes to him thereafter. He added that he would fulfill that too.
He also gratefully remembers 8th-grade teacher Narayanasamy, 10th-grade teacher Maheswari, and 12th-grade teacher Sangeetha, who supported his dream and ambition and cared for him and helped him as if he were their own child, as well as the medical college professors who helped him: Sudha (Physiology Department), Ananthi (Pediatrics), and, though not very well acquainted, Sundar and Chandru, who became friends and helped him understand and fulfill his ambition.
