Dr Vikas Mahatme may be new to politics but is well known as an opthalmologist in Nagpur, his work having won him a Padma Shri. He built his base of patients by organising eye camps and today runs a charitable hospital, has set up a trust that trains doctors, and treats needy patients for free. The Rajya Sabha nomination by the BJP marks a first not only for Dr Mahatme, 63, but also for his community, Dhangar. Traditionally associated with shepherding, the Dhangars number one crore in Maharashtra but have never had a representative in Parliament. “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has given me the opportunity to become the first Dhangar representative in Parliament,” he said after filing his nomination Tuesday. “I believe it will provide a larger forum to my cause, the welfare of poor patients, and will help uplift the backward Dhangar community. Yes, I firmly believe this backward community should get reservation as an ST,” he said, and added, “I will continue eye surgery whenever I am not in Parliament.” [related-post] He said he has never been associated with the BJP or the RSS in the past. “But I was never averse to politics for a right cause.” Born in December 1952 in remote Wadodha Sukhreswar village in Amravati, he moved to Nagpur while his father was serving in a central excise job. After his MBBS and a masters in surgery in opthamology, he opened a clinic in the courtyard of his house on the outskirts of the city. “What worried me was how to get patients from the city. The access road was bad. In fact, when I completed class X, we had no electricity in our house,” he said. “I organised eye camps in various parts of city to draw people, who became my patients,” he added. “And over the years, I worked out a model under which fees charged from patients who could afford it would be cross-subsidised for giving free treatment to the poor.” Mahatme said there was a time when he would conduct more than 20 operations a day, and today has one lakh surgeries to his credit. He adds that statistics don’t matter. “I am striving to impart the knowledge I have acquired through my experience to young doctors,” said Mahatme, whose Happy Institute of Science and Charitable Hospital Trust has trained 1,500 Indian doctors and 500 from abroad. His charitable hospital has 100 beds in Nagpur and branches in Amravati, Gadchiroli, Pune and Mumbai. He is married to Dr Sunita Mahatme, a gynaecologist. About his community, he said, “ The Dhangars always lived on the outskirts of cities and in villages. There were wanderers, their children would tend to sheep and goats instead of going to school. Through our organsations, I am trying to ensure they are more organised and find a permanent home to ensure uninterrupted school for their children. Also, we have to introduce new methods to their traditional profession of tending to sheep.
