Sambalpur: Age is no bar to learning. A 64-year-old retired bank official in Odisha has proved the adage right by taking admission for MBBS at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla.
Meet Jaykishore Pradhan, a native of Bhalupali near Atabira in Bargarh district, who retired from service from the State Bank of India (SBI).
Jaykishore’s daughter Jyotiprabha is now in her second year of Bachelor in Dental Science (BDS) in Bilaspur and son Jayajit is a student of Class X.
Giving credit for his success to his pharmacist wife Prativa, Jaykishore said he had dreamed of becoming a doctor in his childhood. After completing Plus-II in science, he had appeared for the medical entrance examination. But he failed to crack it. Then he did BSc in Physics. After graduation, he was taught in a school for a year and then started a career in banking by joining Indian Bank.
In 1983, he joined SBI as a clerk. Later, he was promoted to Scale-II officer post and retired in 2016. At that time, his daughter was preparing for the medical entrance examination and he guided her in her studies. Meanwhile, he was also interested to fulfil his childhood aim.
He applied for NEET examination. As he had met with an accident 10 years ago and suffered some leg injuries, he appeared for NEET in the handicapped quota. He cracked the exam and after counselling, took admission at VIMSAR on Thursday.