23-year-old Ganesh Baraiya is living proof that nothing is impossible. Despite facing discrimination because of his short stature, he managed to become the world’s shortest doctor.

Ganesh Baraiya was born in the Talaja Thaluka area of Gujarat, India, and faced adversity from a very young age. He was born normal, but at the age of four, his parents noticed that his head was outgrowing his body, so they took him to a doctor. They learned that the boy suffered from an incurable condition and there was nothing anyone could do. Wanting to help her son, Ganesh’s mother put a tub-like helmet on his head to prevent it from growing and give his body a chance to catch up. In school, he was often ridiculed because of his large head and short stature, but he also had friends who stuck by him and he was able to focus on his studies.

One day, Ganesh’s father, Viththal Bhai, who worked as a farmer earning around 200 Rs a day, was offered Rs. 100,000 ($1,200) to allow Ganesh to join the circus as a clown. The man was so devastated by the offer that he started fearing for his son’s safety, fearing whether he would be kidnapped. He started accompanying him to school and prevented the boy from going anywhere unattended.

Despite his physical limitations, Ganesh Baraiya was always very ambitious. He knew he wanted to be a doctor from a very young age, and put all his energy into his studies, working hard to get high grades. When the time came, he applied for a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree (MBBS), only to be denied because of his dwarfism. Despite his good test results, the Medical Council of India rejected his application because of his height (only three feet), claiming that he wouldn’t be able to perform his duties in emergency cases.

Ganesh was devastated by the rejection, but he wasn’t about to give up on his dream. With the help of his school principal, he approached the District Collector, then the state Education Minister, and even knocked on the doors of the Gujarat High Court. None of his efforts were successful, but he refused to give up. His case reached India’s Supreme Court, and justice was finally done.

In 2018, India’s top court of law awarded Ganesh the right to enroll in an MBBS, and he did just that the following year. The three-foot-tall man recently completed his studies and is working as an intern at Sir-T Hospital in Bhavnagar.

“I was very disappointed three years ago, but I refused to accept their refusal. Now I am very happy that I got justice from the Supreme Court,” Ganesh said three years ago. “Now I am on the way to fulfill the dream I’ve cherished since childhood. I know I’m different, but I want to live a good life like other people and make my parents proud.”

Dr. Ganesh Baraiya still deals with discrimination, as many of his patients are reluctant to open up to him due to his height, but once they see he knows his business, they get more comfortable. Still, it’s something that other doctors don’t have to deal with on a daily basis.

 

“Whenever patients see me they are a bit startled at first but then they accept me and I also accept their initial behavior. They behave with me cordially and with positivity. They become happy as well,” Dr. Baraiya said.

Although he has yet to be acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records, 3-foot-tall Ganesh Baraiya is being hailed as the shortest doctor in the world, a distinction he takes pride in, because it tells the story of the difficulties he had to overcome to obtain it.