MAHARASHTRA: Nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of five are attributable to undernutrition, according to the UNICEF. The story is not different in Melghat, a tribal area in Maharashtra, where many children have died due to malnourishment. This sad state-of-affairs prompted a young Rushikesh Andhalkar to pursue a profession in medicine and make a difference public health.
“In my 20s I read about the deaths of children due to starvation in Melghat. In this area, most of the children die due to malnourishment and that’s when I realised how important it was to have access to healthcare to uphold the right to life of people. Thus, I decided to pursue MBBS in order to make a difference when it comes to public health,” he said.
After successfully completing his MBBS from Dr V M Govt. Medical College, Solapur, he is now pursuing a Master’s in global health in Queen Mary University in London on Chevening Scholarship.
The experience he gained during his time in the medical school and interning at various hospitals gave him a deeper understanding community health services that helped him set up ‘Jyot - Ray of Hope’, a volunteer network of doctors that encourages medical students and practising doctors to participate in community health initiatives.
Andhalkar said during the time between 2015 and 2019, they worked for Melghat Dhadak Mohim, also known as Melghat Tribal Medical Camp. “I was fortunate enough to lead the team of doctors as the Camp Leader every monsoon to reduce infant fatalities during this time. Also, I conducted a cross- research study along with my doctors’ network which had voluntary contributions from 60 medical doctors who lived within the tribal community,” he said.
They prepared a policy brief that highlighted the issues that needed immediate attention. “Our work was recognised by non-profit organisations which employed local tribals as health ambassadors. Thee health ambassadors played an important role to make sure all government health schemes are implemented. In this way, the overall healthcare system in the community was positively impacted which resulted in better access to government health schemes,” said Rushikesh.
During the pandemic, he served as a medical consultant for the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). “I was instrumental in leading, coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Covid-19 protocol. I was monitoring the clinical trial for the COVAXIN across the six sites in the state. In addition, I also led the SERO Survey for Covid-19 prevalence with an expert team of 25 healthcare workers. We conducted this survey with a strict deadline during the peak of the Covid-19 wave in India, to understand the trend of Covid-19 spread and to map the immunity status among citizens.” Rushikesh lost his mother due to Covid-19. Despite major personal loss, he continued to work as a frontline worker.
“After working for a couple of years at the grassroots I focused my medical intervention to create awareness on organ donation by utilising my network of doctors and grassroots organisations. As a part of which I initiated a lecture series across colleges and communities to motivate people to pledge for organ donation. I was able to reach out to more than 6,000 young people and more than 100 community organisations to advance the mission of awareness on cadaver organ donation. I was also awarded the Medical Mantra Award by the Indian Government,” Rushikesh said.
Rushikesh said his studes in London will help him to learn more expertise and scale up work to make sure access to healthcare is universalised. The Samata Center, a non-profit organisation which has been working to enable students from challenged backgrounds through free mentoring, academic coaching, helped him to connect the local and global social network. “When I return to India after completing my master’s program in the UK, I want to use the most of the knowledge and foreign experience to serve our people,” he said.
“After working several years in the field of public health, I noticed several lacunas, which can be addressed through the policy only. Therefore, I plan to work as experts in public health and once the right policy is prepared that will help to reach the government health facilities at the local level and it will surely resolve many perennial health issues,” he added.