AIIMS entrance topper wants to improve medical facilities in her town

Parvesh Sharma
Tribune News Service
Sangrur, June 18

Seventeen-year-old Eliza wants to be doctor for a very noble cause—she wants to help fill the acute shortfall of doctors her town faces.

Eliza comes from Lehragaga, a municipality in Punjab’s Sangrur. Her father’s an economics teacher and her mother is a homemaker. She credits her success to her family.

“Despite being coming from a backward area, I had the full support of my family,” she says.

Her teachers at Dr Dev Raj DAV Senior Secondary Pubic School, Khai, Lehragaga sing praises of one of their brightest students. 

“We have very high expectations of her. Apart from concentrating on her own studies, she is always helpful to other students,” Parveen Khokhar, managing director of the school, says.

Her father Vijay Kumar, who works at the Government Senior Secondary School at Lehal Kalan, is proud of how Eliza beat the odds. Like his daughter, he hopes she would use her medical degree to serve the area well.

The proud father then lists his young daughter’s achievements: a 100 per cent in her Class 10, 94.6 per cent in Class 12, and scoring the highest in Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY), an examination conducted by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 

“She would spend 8-10 studying every day, and go to Patiala over the weekend to take coaching and get her doubts cleared from a private institute, “ Vijay said.

Eliza has an older brother, 20-year-old Robin Bansal, who is currently pursuing B.Tech from IIT, New Delhi.

Her mother Renu Bansal, who has a masters degree in environment science and library science, says: “My daughter’s success will inspire girlsin our area”.