The Trendsetter: Trekking gets new facet

Ahmedabad based mountaineer and dentist
Dr Pratibha Athawale spares two weeks every year for the people of remote areas in north-east?

Intro: Every year many people go on trekking in the Himalayas—to create a ‘record’. But rarely any realise the sufferings of locals. Until 1995, Ahmedabad based mountaineer and dentist Dr Pratibha Athwale too was no exception. As part of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra group she deeply realised the health sufferings of local people. On the spot she pledged to change the objective of her future ‘trekking’—only to provide medical aid to the people in remote areas. Since 2000, she visits remote areas of north east not just to provide dental care but also to strengthen the emotional bond with rest of the country. Writes Pramod Kumar

When most people are busy in preparations of Diwali, Dr Pratibha Athwale packs her luggage from Ahmedabad and leaves for remote areas of north-eastern states. Since the year 2000, she has made it her life mission to celebrate Diwali by providing dental care to the needy people in remote areas.

Since childhood, travelling and trekking have been Pratibha’s passion. In 1995, during her trip to Kailash Mansarovar she came across a large number of local people suffering from various disorders like severe headache, cough, cold and stomach-ache problems. She treated them happily but noticed their poor oral hygiene. When she noticed that the health condition of the people living in border areas is quit unsatisfactory, she stopped going on trekking and started providing medical care to such people. But the big question was how to start the work and how to make arrangements in the areas where she knows none. Language barrier was also there.
When one has firm commitment, one definitely finds the way. Dr Pratibha came across with Shri Satish Chaukulkar of Vivekananda Kendra, who was in north-eastern region for many years. Finally, in October 2000 she left for a new voyage of her life. She travelled about 60 hours by rail from Ahmedabad to Delhi, then Delhi to Guwahati and then by jeep to a designated medical camp in Assam. This is her permanent routine since 14 years. “I insist travelling to remotest areas, where the locals are deprived of even basic health needs. I conduct 3 to 4 camps and try my level best to treat all the people coming with dental problems. The tasks at the camp include minor fillings, root canal, uprooting of teeth, etc,” Dr Pratibha says.
The journey has not been easy. In the first year itself many challenges blocked the way. It is a well known fact that dental care requires a dental chair, which is specially designed with attachments for several other surgical instruments. Since Dr Pratibha did not have dental chair, the patients were seated on an ordinary chair causing huge discomfort to both the doctor and the patients. Then she decided to transport a dental chair from Ahmedabad to Guhawati. In 2007, she obtained an old chair and decided to transport that to Guwahati in a huge wooden box. The estimated cost of transportation was calculated Rs 10,000 by the railways. Naturally, it was unaffordable amount. When she explained her objective to the railway authorities they suggested to repack the chair into four boxes thus reducing the transportation cost to just Rs 3000. But the problem was who will re-assemble the dismantled chair in Guwahati? Finding no way out, Dr Pratibha herself learnt how to dismantle and re-assemble the chair. This shows the level of her willpower and commitment to the cause.
In 2010, Sawa Bharati requested Dr Pratibha to set up a permanent dental clinic in Meghalaya, where the locals can meet the doctor at least once or twice a month. She agreed and a clinic was opened at Barkona Ashram of Meghalaya in October 2011. Dr Pratibha herself took upon the initiative to get a light weight dental unit, folding chair for this clinic. Some of her friends too have now started contributing equipments like compressor, distilled water plant, ultra sound scanners, etc.
Commitment to the cause, strong willpower and dedication have been her companion to carry out the mission successfully. The journey taught her several lessons also. Some were motivating, while some discouraged her. She has compiled all such experiences, both as a trekker and a dentist, in her book ‘Purvarang–Himarang in Marathi. Impressed by the book and her work, Maya Joshi of Chennai and Dr Pradnya Kalarthi of Bardoli in Gujarat extended help for her four dental clinics in rural areas.
With that help Sawa Bharati started five clinics. Dr Pratibha herself arranged light weight dental units and equipments driven by hydraulic power to the rural areas. But the new problem was they were useless because of frequent power failures. The light weight dental unit and equipments were packed in 35 boxes and were transported to Guwahati and other designated areas by road. And finally the dental clinics were opened at Tejpur (Assam), Gosaigaon (Kokrajhar district), Dittkachara (South Assam), Imphal (Manipur) and Meghalaya.
Before starting the clinics she took another interesting initiative. She imparted training to some local people at her clinic in Ahmedabad for four months and then deployed them to look after the medical needs of the local people at those clinics. “My objective is to make permanent arrangements so that the needs of the people can be met locally. We at social level have many limitations. We lack both the infrastructure and man power. If the government cannot come forward the corporate houses must come. The medicos should also think of sparing some time for these people, especially living in border areas. These are our own countrymen and helping them is our responsibility,” Dr Pratibha says.
She travelled far flung areas of Arunachal Pradesh like Amliang camp in Lohit district, which is very close to Indo-China border and offered free services to the locals as well as the Indian soldiers deployed there. She also travelled to Garo hills, Belbery village, which is 15 kms from Bangladesh border. Vidya Bharati runs a school there, which does not get any grant from the government; also there is no provision for electricity or any generator. The parents of the children residing in the hostel cum school were unable to afford even Rs 400 as monthly fees for food, education and stay. In the hilly areas of Teling village in Nagaland, people have to travel nearly five hours to get medical aid in Dimapur. In case of emergency, they have to spend Rs 10,000 on travel alone. Dr Pratibha travelled to such remote areas and offered services to the people. “What satisfies me a lot that majority of the people visited our camps now live a happy life and we have been able to generate awareness about hygiene,” she said.
Dr Pratibha has set a precedent, which, if imbibed by other doctors also, can develop a confidence among the people living in remote or border areas, and they will truly feel the entire country is with them in all circumstances.