At 70, Padma Shri Physician Travels 160 Km Each Weekend To Deal with Villagers

Because the weekend approaches, the town of Kolkata gears as much as unwind and loosen up. However ideas of leisure are the very last thing on Dr Arunoday Mondal’s thoughts. As Saturday approaches, he readies himself for an arduous journey to Sujan — a free medical service centre began within the yr 2000.

Positioned in one of many remotest areas of Hingalganj in West Bengal, this clinic is the physician’s try at giving again to his group.

Each weekend, for the final 23 years, Dr Arunoday Mondal has been waking up within the wee hours of the morning and driving to the Dum Dum Cantonment Railway Station. From right here the 70-year-old boards a prepare to Hasnabad. Two hours later, on arriving on the village, he takes an autorickshaw to Lebukhali. The journey spans 30 km, however the vacation spot remains to be not in sight.

The physician should take a mechanised boat throughout the river to succeed in Hingalganj, from the place Sujan is 12 km away. He completes this final stretch by motorcycle.

Six hours and 160 km later, Dr Arunoday Mondal walks into Sujan the place he says “tons of” wait, their medical grievances on the prepared. Dangerous street connectivity and abject poverty imply most of them have walked to Sujan. Their drained faces present it.

However because the physician and affected person see one another, hope is rekindled. The folks’s ‘Sundarban ke Sujan’, as he’s popularly known as, is now right here.

Dr Mondal’s causes for establishing the free clinic on this distant a part of the state have been private. “I grew up right here,” he says. “This place [Chandrakhali Panchayat area of Hingalganj] has been my residence. Rising up, I noticed how robust it was for my group to succeed in a physician. My grandfather, a homoeopathic physician, would typically deal with sufferers at no cost. I watched and was impressed.”

Dr Mondal aspired to do the identical. Following an MBBS from the Calcutta Nationwide Medical Faculty, he labored on the Dr B C Roy Memorial Hospital for Kids. However stop in 1980 to begin his personal follow.

Nonetheless, ideas of his native Hingalganj have been always on his thoughts. “My socially aware thoughts needed to do one thing for the underprivileged folks of Sundarbans,” he explains.

And in 2000, Dr Mondal couldn’t ignore his interior voice any longer.

Sujan — a ray of hope for the folks of Sundarbans

For the primary two years, Dr Mondal would seek the advice of sufferers at no cost at his paternal home in Hingalganj. His recognition quickly grew and the area fell brief. So, in 2000 he arrange Sujan on a bit of land he bought. “I run the two-storey centre myself with none authorities assist.”

Because the day the centre was flagged off, its doorways have at all times been open to anybody and each one of many Sundarbans, offered they fall beneath the poverty line. The diaspora of sufferers embrace villagers, fishermen, native residents of Hasnabad and Adivasi households who dwell close to Santiniketan.”

Although Dr Mondal consults solely on weekends, his crew of eight medical employees are at all times on the centre to assist anybody. They help sufferers with pathological assessments, sonographies and CT scans. Along with this, there’s a physiotherapy centre on the clinic the place paralytic and disabled individuals come for normal remedy and train.

When the physician isn’t busy consulting, he units up eye checkup camps, diabetic detection and prevention camps, gynaecological checkup camps, most cancers detection and prevention camps, blood donation camps, and so forth. Sujan has turn into a beacon of hope for the folks.

And because the inflow of sufferers is rising, Dr Mondal shares his plans to bolster the ability’s capability. “We’re planning on beginning a 16-bed unit quickly — 4 beds can be reserved for snake chunk sufferers, six beds for anticipating moms, one other 4 for medical emergencies and two beds for neonatal care.”

He provides that the snake chunk ward is of prime significance. Elaborating on the rationale, he says, “Hingalganj is in such a distant space. Authorities amenities are usually not sufficient to fulfill the wants of the folks. The Sundarbans are common for his or her biodiversity, which incorporates snakes, so snake chunk instances are quite common.”

Regardless of the federal government arranging anti-venom amenities, the physician shares that these are inadequate.

“In my expertise, I’ve witnessed 30 folks dying of snake bites yearly,” he notes. Certainly one of the instances is etched in his reminiscence. “I had attended a wedding within the village. Two days after the marriage, the younger bride of 18 was sleeping exterior the home when a snake bit her. There wasn’t any anti-venom obtainable and he or she died.”

Service rooted in love

Right this moment, as Dr Mondal is ready to put the grins again on so many faces via his service, he says life has come full circle. “I used to really feel unhappy seeing the depressing situations of the folks of my village after I was younger. There are authorities amenities however these are far. Poor roads, no electrical energy and poor community in these areas imply a number of hardships for these folks.”

Dr Mondal’s efforts to deliver change in these areas haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2020 he was conferred the Padma Shri for his outstanding contribution.

Talking about it, he says, “It’s in spite of everything an honour. However the true honour is the love I get from folks and their respect. That makes me extra proud.”

What’s commendable is his angle about serving the underprivileged. He hasn’t taken a single time without work not even on the peak of the pandemic when issues have been unhealthy.

“I can’t afford to not go to the clinic,” is his argument.

He recounts an occasion the place after performing a routine checkup on a pregnant lady, he prompt she go to a authorities hospital for her supply. “However the poor roads meant she by no means reached the hospital. After they lastly did, the child had died contained in the womb.”

Dr Mondal desires to make sure the folks of his beloved Sundarbans ought to by no means need to expertise the unwanted effects of a negligent healthcare system. “I’ll proceed doing what I can for my folks, at no cost, for so long as I dwell.”

Edited by Pranita Bhat