Dr Mandakini Amte and Dr Prakash Amte – The Schweitzer Couple of India
Dr. Prakash Amte, the selfless doctor and social worker along with his wife Dr. Mandakini Amte devoted his life towards the development and upliftment of the tribal people in the forests of western Maharashtra, and worked there without electricity, telephone etc. for almost twenty years and at times performed emergency surgical procedures without electricity.’
They started a project Lok Biradari Prakalp in 1973 in Hemalkasa, consisting of 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 Park. The Gadchiroli district and Hemalkasa in particular is highly endemic to cerebral malaria, gastroenteritis, tuberculosis, malnutrition, diarrhoea, rheumatism, cirrhosis and attacks by wild animals and depended almost entirely on the local witch doctors for all their ills and maladies. Now this project provides health care to about 40000 individuals annually and School has over 600 students, residents and day scholars.
Amte’s animal Park is a wildlife orphanage for young wild animals, whose parents have been killed by the tribal people only for food and not for fun or entertainment. Amte was successful to get these animals in exchange of food grains and clothes. However, it was not easy to do this. It has now also converted into a sanctuary and The Animal Park today has an inexhaustible list of animals – leopards, lions, barking deer, mouse deer, chameleons, Nilgai (blue Indian bull), otters, wild boars, hyenas, vipers, cobras, kraits, owls, eagles, civet cats, crocodiles and monkeys. They are referred to as the Schweitzer couple of India and in 1995, the generous Prince of Monaco (Europe), issued a postage stamp in their name, in order to honour them. They were also awarded Magsaysay Award for ‘Community Leadership’ in 2008.
