Doctors for You
From Assam’s violence-hit Kokrajhar to Andhra’s floods, Dr. Ravikant Singh and his NGO, ‘Doctors for You’, are summoned first for medical relief during natural or man-made disasters. It all started when Dr. Ravikant was a medical student in Mumbai and his native town in Bihar was ravaged by floods. Dr. Ravikant gathered a few fellow doctors and rushed home to help. One of the first to volunteer was his junior, Chandrakant Patil, who, in the very first phase of their work, was struck by lightning. The rest of the medical team panicked and hot-footed it back to Mumbai. But Ravikant did not want his colleague’s death to go in vain. He returned to Bihar with another team and continued their medical aid and rescue work for six months with relay teams. Recognition for their exemplary services began soon. Touted as the British ‘medical Oscars’, the British Medical Journal Award was conferred on them in 2011 for being the best medical team in a crisis situation’. The SAARC Youth Award, the first for an Indian, followed next.
Dr. Ravikant also teaches disaster management at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and DY Patil University in Kolhapur.