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Padma Shri Dr Arunoday Mondal treats over 12,000 sufferers within the Sunderbans free of charge yearly. He travels 160 km from Kolkata each weekend to run his Sujan clinic.
Because the weekend approaches, town of Kolkata gears as much as unwind and calm down. 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 12 months 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 continues 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 individuals’s ‘Sundarban ke Sujan’, as he’s popularly known as, is now right here.
Dr Mondal’s causes for organising 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 dwelling. Rising up, I noticed how powerful it was for my group to succeed in a health care provider. My grandfather, a homoeopathic physician, would typically deal with sufferers free of charge. 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 observe.
Nevertheless, ideas of his native Hingalganj have been continuously on his thoughts. “My socially aware thoughts needed to do one thing for the underprivileged individuals of Sundarbans,” he explains.
And in 2000, Dr Mondal couldn’t ignore his internal voice any longer.
Sujan — a ray of hope for the individuals of Sundarbans
For the primary two years, Dr Mondal would seek the advice of sufferers free of charge at his paternal home in Hingalganj. His reputation quickly grew and the house 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.”
For the reason that day the centre was flagged off, its doorways have all the time been open to anybody and each one of many Sundarbans, supplied they fall beneath the poverty line. The diaspora of sufferers embody 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 workers are all the time 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 many others. Sujan has change into a beacon of hope for the individuals.
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 shall 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 services aren’t sufficient to satisfy the wants of the individuals. The Sundarbans are standard for his or her biodiversity, which incorporates snakes, so snake chunk instances are quite common.”
Regardless of the federal government arranging anti-venom services, the physician shares that these are inadequate.
“In my expertise, I’ve witnessed 30 individuals 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 by means of his service, he says life has come full circle. “I used to really feel unhappy seeing the depressing circumstances of the individuals of my village once I was younger. There are authorities services however these are far. Poor roads, no electrical energy and poor community in these areas imply loads of hardships for these individuals.”
Dr Mondal’s efforts to deliver change in these areas haven’t gone unnoticed. In 2020 he was conferred the Padma Shri for his exceptional contribution.
Talking about it, he says, “It’s in any case an honour. However the actual honour is the love I get from individuals and their respect. That makes me extra proud.”
What’s commendable is his perspective 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 dangerous.
“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 girl, he urged she go to a authorities hospital for her supply. “However the poor roads meant she by no means reached the hospital. Once they lastly did, the infant had died contained in the womb.”
Dr Mondal desires to make sure the individuals of his beloved Sundarbans ought to by no means need to expertise the negative effects of a negligent healthcare system. “I’ll proceed doing what I can for my individuals, free of charge, for so long as I dwell.”
Edited by Pranita Bhat
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