Ordinary Faces Extraordinary Work

Dr. Prakash Amte And Dr. Mandakini Amte

Prakash Amte is a medical doctor and social worker from Maharashtra, India.He grew up in Anandwan, an ashram and rehabilitation center for leprosy patients in Maharashtra founded by his father, the renowned Gandhian humanitarian,Magsaysay awardee and legend Murlidhar Devidas Amte, or Baba Amte.

Way back in 1970 Lt. Baba Amte urged his sons to come for a picnic in dandakaranya forest. Prakash accompanied his visionary father Lt. Baba Amte into the dense forests of bhamragad. 

When Baba Amte visited Hemalkasa in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra in 1973, he found the condition of the local tribe, The Madia Gonds, appalling. Malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis and leprosy were rife. Illiteracy was total and medical care unheard of. There were hardly any roads worth mentioning. The area would remain cut off from civilization during the monsoons and their aftermath for about 6 months. Moved by the extreme poverty, exploitation, illiteracy and malnuitrition Baba decided to start a project for tribal development.

At that time Prakash was young and freshly graduated; seeing his aged father's enthusiasm and dedication, he promised Baba to join him in his mission. This trip was a turning point in Prakash's life. Shortly after, he was joined by his young and able physician wife Mandakini. Mandakini is an anaesthetist and the daughter of RSS pracharaks from Nagpur — not exactly conventional material for the unorthodox life.

Dr.Mandakini and Prakash loved each other from college days. Leaving her luxurious life behind, she decided to accompany Prakash without any condition. 

Although the conditions were daunting, Baba’s younger son Dr. Prakash, a surgeon and his wife Mandakini, an anesthetist volunteered to work among the Madias(Aadiwasi).When Prakash Amte and Mandakini Amte arrived in their  years ago, the region had no modern services. Government officials considered it wild and served there only reluctantly. By contrast, the Amtes, both of them medical doctors, came by choice. He and his wife Mandakini abandoned their urban practices and, in a leap of faith, moved to remote Hemalkasa. They had nothing but two thatched huts to live in, and the fierce jungle around.

The young couple settled in a doorless hut without a telephone or electricity or privacy or any basic facility. They practiced medicine beside the road and warmed themselves by a wood fire at night. The Madia Gonds, shy people and suspicious of outsiders, spurned their help at first. Prakash and Mandakini learned their language and patiently gained their trust.

They start Lok Biradari Prakalp in 1973, a project for the development of tribal people, most of whom were the Madia Gond in the forests of Gadchirolli district. Many dedicated volunteers like Vilas & Renuka Manohar, Gopal & Prabha Phadnis, Dada & Baban Panchal, Jagan Machkale, Manohar & Sandhya Yempalwar etc. since then, have joined LBP

The project transformed into three things: a hospital, Lok Biradari Prakalp Davakhana, a residential school Lok Biradari Prakalp Ashram Shala and an orphanage for injured wild animals the Amte's Animal Ark.They lived and worked there without electricity, telephone etc. for almost twenty years and at times performed emergency surgical procedures without electricity.  

In 1974, they constructed a small hut for themselves and a bigger hut for patients on an area of 50 acres given by the Maharashtra State Govt. in 1973. This was the beginning of their cottage hospital. It almost took two years when they got their first patient because Madia(Adiwasi) were totally suspicious about them as they had big cultural difference plus they are superstitious. Language was also a big barrier since the tribal language was entirely different from Marathi, the mother tongue of Prakash and Mandakini. The Madia language has no script and is totally unrelated to either Hindi or Marathi - the lingua franca of Maharashtra.