A man with a smiling face and a doctor with a blessed hand, he is rooted firmly in the sanskaras of serving the motherland, inspired by the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Dr Sagdeo, an alumnus of Hadas High School at Nagpur, is a highly respected figure in Kerala. His model of empowerment of tribals, especially those affected due to Sickle Cell, is working wonders.
Wayanad: Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo, a native of Maharashtra who made Wayand his second home since decades, has also been decorated with Padma Shri for his selfless service and invaluable contributions to people, especially tribals, in Wayanad. He was the first to identify sickle cell anemia among the tribals in Wayanad.
Early Life
For a newly graduated young doctor from an affluent family in Nagpur, the backward village of Muttil in Wayanad district –– inhabited mostly by marginal farmers and poor tribals –– was an unlikely place to start a career.
IT WAS some 41 years ago, when a young Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo from Nagpur decided to dedicate his life to serving the people after completing his medical education from Indira Gandhi Government Medical College. He moved to tribal area of Wayanad district in Kerala, and started serving the tribals. What started as a small healthcare unit has now bloomed into an umbrella of initiatives and, more importantly, into a place that the people trust.
After qualifying as MBBS doctor, Dr Sagdeo headed to Kalpetta with blessings of Balasaheb Deoras, then Sarsanghchalak of RSS, supported by Shankara Shastri and Bhaskara Rao. It was a time when not many parents encouraged their children to move away from them and that too for social service in some remote area of the country. But his parents, Diwakarrao and Saroj, thought differently.
When a young Dr Dhananjay went to Wayanad, he faced several challenges ranging from acceptance to language. Wayanad district has several tribes. “The tribals had certain taboos back then. They were reluctant to take medicine. But I was determined and had prepared myself mentally. So, I started working. Gradually, selfless work with confidence and consistency started yielding positive results. Today, the change is for all to see,” he said.
Apart from poverty and malnutrition among the tribals, he also had to face the distrust among the tribal communities towards modern medicine. “At that time, the tribals didn’t go to hospitals and many believed that diseases were a punishment from God. So we decided to take medical care to the hamlets and started the mobile medical unit and started interacting with them and tried to understand their problems. With that we earned their trust and slowly they started coming to the hospital and were ready to take medicines,” he recalled.
Started Clinic
Dr Sagdeo started a small clinic at Muttil. Today, it has developed into a modern facility with in-patient care including maternity care, outpatient clinic with full-time doctors, X-ray and Ultrasound facilities, laboratory, pharmacy, etc. It has six sub-centres run by mobile units that take healthcare to the doorsteps of tribals. The centre also provides specialty care in ophthalmology, pediatrics, ENT etc by doctors who visit on a regular basis.
Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo Honoured With Padma Shri Award at 2021 by Indian Government.
The most important part of his work has been in the field of Sickle Cell. It was prevalent among tribals. In 1999, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, joined hands with Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission Trust to introduce the first pilot project. More than 70 percent of the tribals were screened. A separate trust by the name Sickle Cell Anaemia Research Foundation was formed to continue the campaign. “After the screening, we issued red, blue, and white cards to patients, carriers, and non-affected persons respectively. These cards helped in marriage counseling, thereby reducing the sufferings of the people,” Dr Sagdeo said.
The centre has an active microscopic and treatment centre, and works in the field of Tuberculosis treatment too. Other initiatives include alcohol rehabilitation programme, work as ‘Mother NGO’ for Wayanad district to implement various National Rural Health Programmes. The centre runs Bamboo craft training centre to help the tribals preserve their traditional handicraft and also make some financial gains, which has come in handy for rehabilitation of Sickle Cell patients. The Mission also plays an active role in organising self-help groups, micro insurance programmes etc. Further, it has established around 100 ‘Vidya Kendra’ (coaching centers) along with small libraries and reading rooms.
Sagdeo said that when he completed his MBBS, he was driven by the thought of work in some tribal area where there was no doctor. “I was inspired by the RSS and came to know about the small hospital run by Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission at Muttil and decided that I would make use of whatever I have learned for the benefit of the brethren in Wayanad. The district, which is still poor in terms of healthcare facilities, had not much medical infrastructure then with very few doctors and hospitals when I came here in 1980,” he said.
Five-Point Programme
Dr Sagdeo is serving the society with the mission’s five-point programme -- Shikshan (education), Swasthya (healthcare), Sanskar (grooming), Swavalamban (self-reliance), and Samajik (social work). He is ably supported by his wife Sujata, who has won several awards for recipes. Several of her articles on recipes have appeared in various publications. Elder daughter Aditi Shahapurkar and her husband Ajay stay in Sahakar Nagar, Nagpur. Younger daughter Dr Gayatri has completed her MBBS and has joined her father.
But Dr Dhananjay Diwakar Sagdeo not only undertook the 1,400km journey from his home town to Wayanad when he was just 24 but has also made the place his home for the last 40 years, taking forward his mission to provide medical care to the most impoverished of tribals in the district which has the highest tribal population in Kerala.