Lifeline

Lok Biradari Prakalpa (LBP) a NGO was started in the year 1973 by Dr Baba Amte. It is located in a very remote village Hemalkasa in the backward & poverty ridden district of Gadhchiroli. The area is heavily forested and inhabited with indigenous Madia and Gond tribes. Basic infrastructures of transportation, health care and medicine and education are either too scares or totally non existent. There is still no electricity in most parts of the district. Baba’s younger son Dr Prakash and his wife Dr Mandakini Amte too joined him. Their motive was to provide free medical aid to the very poor tribal people in the remote and neglected region of Gadchiroli district. They made it their mission. Later in 1986 they started to conduct free medical camps as a further aid to the locals. A small group of very skilled surgeons from Nagpur freely volunteered, served as a helping hands for performing simple as well as complex medical operations of the tribal people. Every year these doctors provide free service to the camp. Back then the concept of ‘Doctor’ was not known to the tribal community. Totally driven by primitive and superstitious beliefs they visited ‘witch doctor’ and practiced witchcraft to help them recover from their ordeal. But slowly, word spread in the community about LBP and its medical service and the tribals started to take a big leap in abandoning their superstitious practices. As the trust increased in the service so did the number of tribals visiting LBP. As a legacy the medical camp is still held every year in January since last 30 years. The local Madia and the Gond tribes are known for having good amount of tolerance for pain. Unaware of the kind of their ailment they often use to ignore it till worse gets better and they had to face some adverse outcome. Now Lok Biradari Prakalpa offers a very good and guaranteed medical service to every one in the region. Gadhchiroli district is also infested with Naxalite activities since last almost 30 years. Naxalites are mostly anti democratic. They are of Communist ideologies. The government of India has termed these Naxalites as terrorist groups. There is always tension and pressure prevailing in the area because of these activities. But the naxalites offer no hindrance to any work of the Prakalpa . Everyone now has developed almost blind faith in the Amte family.For dedicating their entire life in service to the tribals both Dr Prakash and Dr Manda tai received the prestigious ‘Raman Magsaysay’ award in the year 2008. The LBP’s medical facility is never closed and is open for 24 hours through out the year to offer its service unconditionally. LBP is truly the lifeline to the tribal people.