From Losing Both Her Legs To Becoming A Doctor, Here's Roshan Jawwad's Inspiring Story

Who is Roshan Jawwad? She had lost both her legs thirteen years ago while returning from Andheri to Jogeshwari by train when she fell onto the tracks and her legs came under the moving train. Her lower limbs were severed at the ankle and thigh. She had scored 92.2% in Class X in 2008 and was returning home after writing her college exam at Bandra’s Anjuman-i-Islam Girls College when the incident took place. But what the accident could not snatch from this vegetable vendor's daughter is her dream of becoming a doctor which she had been nurturing in her eyes since childhood. She fought legal battles and a bone tumour to complete her MD in pathology.

In an interview with TOI, she said that she is very happy to have passed MD. It was difficult but she had promised herself that she won't give up. Roshan is the third among four siblings and stays in a 10x10 rented chawl in Jogeshwari. Her brother Abu Talib is a salesman who shoulders the family’s responsibilities. She was also helped by a senior lawyer who took up her case for free and an MLA who financed her medical education.

Challenges

Roshan cracked the entrance exam but had to still approach the Bombay High Court for admission to MBBS  as she was left 86% handicap post-accident as opposed to 70% handicap which was the permissible limit

She grappled with financial challenges but made several rounds of the court during the legal battle for admission. Her prayers were finally answers when the Then Chief Justice of the Bombay HC, Justice Mohit Shah, directed that Roshan be given admission.

She passed MBBS with first class in 2016 from Seth GS Medical College (KEM hospital) and even cracked the PG medical entrance exams in 2018 and got admission in the same college for MD (pathology).

She was unfortunately diagnosed with bone tumour in her second year in MD. She was operated upon and her teachers and friends stood by her side in these testing times. In the MD results, she secured 4th rank in the KEM pathology department with 65% marks.

She wants to plan starting a laboratory and diagnostic centre in a rural area where people at present travel long distances for medical tests. She will wait for funding or start it later when she gets financially independent to start a laboratory. She wants her centre to have concessional testing and free testing for the poor.