At an age when most are retired, Dr Arunoday Mondal is just getting started. Every single weekend, he journeys 160 km to keep a 23-year-old promise — free healthcare for people in remote Sundarbans.
When the city sleeps, Dr Mondal begins his six-hour odyssey, a train from Dum Dum to Hasnabad, an autorickshaw for 30 km, a boat across the river, to reach his clinic — Sujan.
Here, hundreds of villagers already wait — some barefoot, some carrying infants, most exhausted after walking miles. Their tired eyes light up when they see him. To them, he isn’t just a doctor. He’s a messiah in a white coat.
Dr Mondal’s bond with this land runs deep. He grew up in Hingalganj, where doctors were few and hospitals, a distant dream. His grandfather, a homoeopath, treated villagers for free, teaching him that healing is a purpose, not a profession.
Years later, after earning his MBBS from Calcutta National Medical College, he worked at Dr B C Roy Memorial Hospital. But the faces of those who couldn’t reach a doctor in time kept calling him back home.
So he quit the city life. Returned to his village. And built Sujan — a free medical centre born out of compassion, not capital. Soon, word spread. And it became more than a clinic; it became a lifeline.
Today, Sujan treats 12,000 patients a year for free — most are daily wagers, fishermen, and impoverished farmers. It runs tests, scans, and health camps for eye care, cancer, gynaecology, blood pressure and diabetes.
Even during the pandemic, when most stayed home, Dr Mondal didn’t. “I can’t afford not to go,” he says. In 2020, India honoured him with the Padma Shri. But for him, the real reward lay elsewhere. “The love & respect of my people… that’s my biggest prize".