B.L. Siroya, a doctor who overcame personal loss and difficulties to achieve his dream, has been working as an acupuncture expert for the past ten years. His advice to youngsters is to stay focused and learn from their mistakes.

Dr. B. L. Siroya is a retired Chief Medical and Health Officer.

Dr. Siroya says he was born in a town called Kapasan in the Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan. He was born into a good family, but when he was merely nine years old, he lost his mother. This impacted him hugely, as he was put into a hostel after this. His father had vowed not to marry again, but he put constant efforts into raising the kids well and played the role of both parents. This love from his father helped Siroya cope with the grim loss.

Dr. Siroya completed his schooling in Kapasan itself, and thereafter he moved to Udaipur to pursue his further studies at Maharana Bhupal College. His Hindi-medium background resulted in some difficulties in his studies, so he changed his subject and got into another college, where he completed his studies. Later on, he got admission into the RNT Medical College of Udaipur.

Sharing about his journey, Dr. Siroya says that after completing his internship, he joined as a civil assistant surgeon at Partapur Hospital in Banswara district. After some time, he became in charge of the hospital. There were many people under him; most were older than him, so he had to be more mature than his age and match the level of expectations. He also learned a lot during his tenure there.

Then, in 1980, he joined the RNT Medical College in Udaipur. There, he worked as the unit head of the Rural Health Training Center. Dr. Siroya served there for about 15 years. Later, he was transferred to the satellite hospital. Here, he felt quite relieved, as there were many senior doctors and he didn’t have to take up the responsibility of the head of the institution.

Dr. Siroya was then posted in the administrative sector as the District Reproductive and Child Health Officer in the Udaipur district itself. It was a huge responsibility, as the whole district came under his control. But he took the responsibility with zeal and did his work excellently, proving his competency. He organized vaccination drives, polio camps, etc. to increase the overall immunity of the people of the Udaipur region. Afterwards, he was transferred to Rajsamand district as a district RCH officer. He enjoyed his tenure there and worked with various administrative officers.

In the meantime, in 1989, Dr. Siroya got the chance to meet an acupuncture expert from China who wanted to set up a camp in Udaipur. The doctor only knew Chinese and English, so it was Dr. Siroya’s job to translate patients’ issues to the doctor. Initially, it was unfamiliar and weird for him to see a doctor treating patients with needles, but after seeing the excellent results, he was impressed by the technique.

The Chinese doctor was also impressed with the competency of Dr. Siroya, and thus he offered to come along with him on his journey around India and work with him. They traveled pan-India for two years organizing medical camps, and after the journey, he gave Dr. Siroya a degree, promoted him as a medical acupuncturist, and also made him a member of the World Family Society.

Dr. Siroya considers his life of medical acupuncture to be a boon for himself and enjoys treating people through this therapy. He has treated many extraordinary cases through acupuncture.

When asked about his role models, Dr. Siroya considers his father to be his role model, who kept his commitments and also raised him well. In the professional field, Dr. Siroya considers his colleague, a cardiologist, and his acupuncture therapy teacher from Singapore to be his role models.

Dr. Siroya advises youngsters to be focused and keep working sincerely towards their goals. He also says that you must try to learn from your mistakes and experiences.

In his free time, Dr. Siroya likes to listen to music and spend quality time with his family. And sometimes he visits his field too.

Dr. Siroya also likes to talk and know about the issues of people who are low on the social front. He believes that whatever the government and society have spent on him to make him a doctor, it is his responsibility to try to pay it back in some way or another.