Hospital clowning has been a great hit in the western countries and has been putting smiles on the faces of thousands of children. Chennai not one to lag behind has its own share of clown doctors. Dr. Rohini Rau, a senior medical officer at Kauvery Hospital and her husband Krishnakumar Balasubramanian have been cheering sick children since 2015.
Krishnakumar is a theatre personality and is the artistic director of Little Theatre. Together this couple have been literally working magic with sick children and have found that while medicine takes time to work, the effects of clowning is almost immediate. Story telling, magic tricks, pupettery and singing are some other things that they try out. A noted psychiatrist has stated that medical clowning has the capacity to reduce the psychological distress associated with hospital stay. Besides helping children to be more amenable to tests, it also promotes optimism and improves their quality of life.
