IN INDIA, an expected 499-649 million people (50% to 65% of the population) do not have regular access to essential medicines, as per data from World Health Organization (WHO), the World Medicines Situation report 2004. The figure will be higher in the latest ongoing survey due to regular increase in population and inadequate health services in the country.
Since the last four years there is a person like Omkar Nath who has been on the mission of collecting unused medicines to distribute them to the needy poor Indian. It is his unusual hobby and at the age of ten he wanted to build a medicine bank. This retired labortary technician today has his own medicine bank ‘Raahat Hi Rahaat’ and has been in function since 2009. On an average, he collects medicines worth Rs. 5 to 10 lakh every month from Delhi alone and gives it to NGOs, hospitals, charitable trusts etc., working for underprivileged. People called him ‘medicine baba’.
Despite having a severe knee problem Omnath prefers to walk upto 10 kms every day and avoids using the Metro because of its unaffordable tickets. He uses his transport department’s senior citizen pass to travel by busses and walks to remote areas where busses are not available. Presently, he lives in a rented Jhuggi in Mangalapuri and his work has bought him in limelight. Now people have started donating medicines from across the country.
"He walks like a vegetable hawker on a street and extends awareness about unused medicines, its benefit to the poor. Some people may come forward for donations but some ignore him," said Ganesh Ram, rickshaw puller. "I wonder how this person stocks these medicines and manage the collection, etc," remarked Reshmi, a school teacher.
Omkar wears saffron kurta and his mission statement is printed on it along with contact numbers. Interested people who want to donate medicine can be reached him on 09250243298 and 09971926518. He is a very familiar face near the Janki Devi memorial College in West Delhi, which supports his mission unconditionally.
Now one must be wanting to know that how this undergraduate does the business of collecting medicines. All medicines collected by him are meticulously documented with details of all compositions and manufacturing company. This helps categorising different medicines for ailments and he always hands it over to MBBS doctors. One lawyer told him that he might be in trouble with this mission so he has tied up with two hospitals, where doctors do inspection of his collection before donating it to trusts.
The NGO Goonj has given him a fridge to store his medicines. His week scheule is packed with sorting, recording and requesting for medicines at various localities in Delhi. Now his eyes are getting weak due to old age and he has started using a magnifying glass to read the details pn medicine packets.
His initiative is remarkable and his personal life story is full of struggle. This father of two has washed utensils in hotels and stayed on a railway platform. Without any income or saving he is supporting thousands of poor and his mentally challenged. I salute the person.
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