(This story originally appeared in on Apr 8, 2018)

NEW DELHI: A doctor from a very poor family in West Bengal recently topped the entrance exam of India's best neuroscience institute.

Dhulagarh resident Mohammed Shamim Mondal cracked the entrance for the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences ( NIMHANS ), Bengaluru - an exam held only for four seats.

Mondal was always a brilliant student, who enrolled for his MBBS at the Burdwan Medical College in 2011.

He graduated in 2016, and stood first in the pediatric department.

Post that, he took the NIMHANS entrance and attained the first rank in DM Neurology .

His all-India rank in Mch Neuro Surgery is 8.

In an interview to Ei Samay, Mondal said, "My father is a zari worker. Our family is not affluent. I was a scholarship student in Al Amin school. Later on I took a minority loan to continue my MBBS. But after that I didn't have enough money to take tutions for MD exam. I used to work in the hospital and stay in hostel. Still, I managed to study for 14 hours a day."

His father Habibur Rehman said, "With the blessings of Allah and help from local people and teachers of Al Amin Mission, when he got chance to study MBBS, I knew for sure that he will never stay behind. Now he has come first in India. I'm a proud father today. My son is living and fulfilling all my dreams."

Read this story in Bengali