Dr. Abhay & Dr. Rani Bang: Transforming Tribal Healthcare in India

Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani Bang stand among the rare pioneers in medicine who have dedicated their entire lives to uplifting communities and advancing healthcare in some of the most remote regions, including the dense tribal jungles of Maharashtra.

Their story is an inspiration to many and is an example of what a powerful impact even a dedicated few can do while standing in the middle of impossible circumstances.

Early life

Abhay Bang was born in 1950 in Wardha, Maharashtra, to Thakurdas and Suman Bang. His father, a renowned Gandhian, was an economics professor and a dedicated freedom fighter. Both his parents were deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy and were active participants in the Khadi and Sarvodaya movements.

Abhay spent his early years at Gandhi's Sevagram Ashram in Wardha, till the age of 13, alongside Gandhi's main disciple, Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Until the ninth standard, he studied at a school that adhered to the principles of Nai Talim, a system of practical, hands-on education advocated by Gandhi himself which he later tried to replicate himself in Gadchiroli village.

When his elder brother chose to focus on farming issues, Abhay chose to concentrate on health issues instead. He then moved to pursue higher studies.

Dr. Rani Bang (Chari) was born in Chandrapur, Maharashtra in 1951. She comes from a family with roots in medical and public services, being the daughter of a doctor and the granddaughter of a prominent Member of Parliament (MP) affiliated with Indian National Congress (INC).

Education

Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani Bang met in 1972 while pursuing their MBBS at Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur. Dr. Abhay stood out academically, graduating at the top of his class and securing the first rank at the university.

Both Dr. Rani and Dr. Abhay Bang pursued their post-graduation at Nagpur University, where they excelled in their respective fields. Dr. Rani earned her M.D. in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1976, and Dr. Abhay completed his M.D. in Medicine in 1977. Remarkably, both graduated at the top of their classes, receiving gold medals for their academic excellence. Following their accomplishments, they got married in 1977.

In 1978, they worked with Chetana Vikas, formed by Akshay Bang (Dr. Abhay's elder brother) for Sustainable Rural Development in Wardha.

An incident sparked the couple's interest in public health during this time when Dr. Rani Bang was working as consulting gynecologist in civil hospital Wardha. A woman named Rai-bai Dabole, came with her critically ill 2 year old with pneumonia and gastroenteritis and the child could not be saved, which had a profound impact on them.

They decided to tackle the mountain of public health issues and went on to study MPH in the prestigious John Hopkins University and while returning to India invested themselves in the tribal district of Maharashtra.

But this battle was against all odds, Dr. Rani Bang was the only gynecologist in the district at that time and she performed the first caesarean section delivery in the area. After initial surveys, they found that the infant mortality rate was very high in these villages.

To tackle this, Dr. Abhay and Rani Bang established SEARCH (Society for Education, Action & Research in Community Health) in Shodgram, about 15 kilometers from the district headquarters of Gadchiroli on the Dhanora road, Maharashtra in 1985. Their initial focus was to provide affordable healthcare to the tribal community who constituted the 40% of population.

They wanted to live and serve amongst the tribal community.

The intensive care units were located either in Nagpur or Mumbai, but this care was not reachable due to a lot of infrastructure and social factors.

This led them to start their globally acclaimed Home Based Maternal, Newborn & Child Care (HBNC). While approving the draft for the program, Dr. Abhay's mentor,Carl E Taylor, Head and founder of the Department of international health at John Hopkins encouraged him in a handwritten note that read "this will be the most important work you ever do in your life".

In the program, they trained, tribal women, village health workers, paramedics, and traditional birth attendants (TBA) to monitor and attend to the pregnant mothers and newborns. TBAs can be any committed person who has attended around four child births in the village. They checked the vitals of the mothers and infants during house visits, educated the mothers about the unsanitary conditions and encouraged them to seek advanced medical care by explaining the danger signs.

The young mothers were educated through multiple medical camps and house visits. TBAs attended home deliveries, trained to manage conditions like birth asphyxia and life-threatening sepsis in newborns. These multiple interventions achieved through a huge number of village visits and community support finally led to a considerable decrease in the infant and maternal mortality rate in the area. Awareness also resulted in more institutional deliveries.

Although the major causes of the infant mortality were shown as sepsis and asphyxia in the research, the gond tribe customs also had a role in it. According to this, Gond mothers starved themselves for an easier birth, didn't nurse for three days after their babies were born, and didn't clothe the newborn for five weeks. As a result, pneumonia was killing a large number of infants. In an attempt to address this concern, SEARCH has been encouraging mothers to check the weight of their newborns, among other measures.

The medical fraternity initially could not approve treating infants in non-sterilised environment of homes and mud huts instead of an established facility like NICU. But since bringing world class neonatal care to Gadchiroli was nearly impossible at that time, they decided to involve and educate the community for faster results. The infant mortaliy rate dropped from 121 per 1000 live births to 30 in 3 years.

The Lancet editor hailed their research paper on Home-Based Newborn Care (HBNC) as one of the most significant publications in the journal’s 180-year history.

Dr. Bang and his wife were the only two Indian medical researchers to have published three original Lancet papers on independent health problems, each being a world-first.

The HBNC model was endorsed by WHO, UNICEF,USAID for reducing infant mortality rates in other developing counties. The government of India adopted it in its 12th national five-year plan to reduce the IMR.

Under the National Rural Health Mission, Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) programme was launched in 2011 for accelerated reduction of Neonatal mortality rates especially in rural, remote areas where access to care is largely unavailable or located faraway. The guidelines were revised in 2014.

The programme includes six visits in case of institutional deliveries on 3rd, 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th & 42nd days after birth and one additional visit within the first 24 hours of delivery in case of home deliveries by ASHA (Accredited Social Health Workers). During the visits, special attention given for babies who are pre-term, low birth weight or ill and SNCU discharged.

This program is being followed by all the Indian states till now.

In 1993, Dr. Rani Bang and Dr. Abhay Bang established Maa Danteshwari Hospital, a culturally sensitive space named after the tribal deity. They set up a hospital in tune with the beliefs of the tribal community. They built small mud houses rather than a multi-rise building to make the community feel home. A common courtyard with huts for families to live with the patients, and a temple dedicated to the tribal goddess, Danteshwari Devi. It is located in a 13-acre facility in Shodhgram and the programs goes beyond medical care, offering a de-addiction centre, a farming program to equip tribal youth with agricultural skills, and sex education workshops for school children.

This kind of a comprehensive centre reflects the couple's larger commitment to the empowerment of the community along with raising the medical standards in the area.

Apart from SEARCH and HBNC, they have developed programmes like NIRMAN for youth for motivating them to take up social causes, conducts continuous research in various medical fields and topics.

Along with the medical issues, the problems of alcoholism were rampant in the district. This led to the formation of an alcohol liberation movement which the women wholeheartedly supported. They succeeded in achieving alcohol prohibition in Gadchiroli with community support, on 27th March, 1993, as a result of countless number of mass movements by women, villagers, NGOs, political parties. But still the fight still remains an uphill battle combined with tobacco use.

The couple was awarded with the Padmashri in 2018, fourth highest civilian award in India. Their work has received close to 70 national and international awards, including the Maharashtra Bhushan, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins University, the Mahatma Gandhi Award and the ICMR Award. TIME Magazine named them Global Health Heroes (2005), and the WHO honoured him as the Public Health Champion (2016).

Although they have made great strides in rural and tribal public health issues, they still advocate and educate about issues like non communicable diseases, stroke in tribal communities, rising alcohol and tobacco use among tribal and general population.

They continue their research on many issues like rheumatic diseases in tribal population, malaria, impact of anemia after surgeries in Gadchiroli. Among their current work, the most outstanding would-be bringing world class spine surgery in partnership with the spine foundation (TSF) to the most rural and isolated areas like Shodgram. In March 2024, TSF and SEARCH held a spine camp that led to 24 patients receiving surgery for debilitating spinal conditions. A team of spine specialists, physiotherapists, and surgical staff traveled from Mumbai, setting up temporary base at SEARCH Hospital. They also have started other specialty care in the hospital in collaboration with volunteer surgeons.

On Nov 14, 2022, Dr Rani Bang, suffered a severe brain stroke, that left the right side of her body paralysed. After receiving treatment for two months, she resumed her OPD services along with physiotherapy at Shodhgram, which shows a true reflection of her commitment. Her book 'Goin', a Gondi word for 'friend', has a study of the flora of the area as seen through the eyes of Gond women and traditional healers.

The couple's journey is a remarkable testament to what human grit can achieve even in the direst of conditions. Their unwavering dedication and commitment led to government policy changes, global public health programes and community empowerment. Their inclusive approach in bringing the healthcare to remotest places led to saving many lives and continues to do so. This should be what young medical aspirants should look out to, for inspiration. Let's hope many youth will take inspiration from their journey to serve the most neglected and help in transforming the Indian healthcare scenario. In a world often overwhelmed by systemic challenges, their story stands as a powerful reminder: meaningful change begins with a deep commitment to serve.

References:

1. Doctor, Rhitu Chatterjee. “Rani and Abhay Bang—Pioneers of Health Care in Rural India.” The Lancet 377, no. 9761 (2011): 1281–82. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60034-2/fulltext.

2. National Health Mission. “HBNC & HBYC.” Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Accessed June 15, 2025. https://nhm.gov.in/index4.php?lang=1&level=0&linkid=491&lid=760.

3. Bang, Abhay, Rani Bang, Madhukar Baitule, Yogesh Choudhary, and H. Sarmukaddam. “Effect of Home-Based Neonatal Care and Management of Sepsis on Neonatal Mortality: Field Trial in Rural India.” The Lancet 354, no. 9194 (1999): 1955–61. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(99)03046-9/abstract.

4. The Spine Foundation. “The Spine Foundation's Impact in Gadchiroli.” Accessed June 15, 2025. https://thespinefoundation.org/gadchiroli/.

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