Ramchandra and Suneeta Godbole

Dr. Ramchandra Godbole and his wife, Suneeta Godbole, moved to Bastar soon after they married in 1990 and have worked among its tribal communities ever since. In 2026 they were named together for the Padma Shri in the field of medicine, from Chhattisgarh ^[1].

Beginnings in Maharashtra

Ramchandra Godbole was born on 18 June 1960 in Satara district, where he studied Ayurvedic medicine (BAMS) ^[2]. Working with the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, he started a clinic for the Bhil community in Nashik district ^[2]. He then spent eight years heading Maharashtra’s village health worker scheme, overseeing primary health care in tribal areas of ten districts with 660 health workers ^[2].

A clinic near Abujhmad

In 1990 the couple moved to Bastar, then one of India’s least developed regions ^[2]. They opened a clinic at Barsur in Dantewada district, near the Abujhmad forest, where patients walked long distances through the forest for treatment ^[2]. In their first twelve years there, about 3,000 seriously ill patients were treated, with the most serious referred to the district hospital 75 km away ^[2].

Health camps

Later they switched to health camps deep in the forest ^[2]. Over fifteen years, 114 camps with visiting specialists have examined more than 9,000 patients, and about 400 critically ill people were admitted to hospital, some as far away as Raipur ^[2]. Dr. Godbole is president of Banphool, which works on malnutrition and health among tribal children in Bastar ^[2].

In 2001 the couple received the Seva Gaurav award from Pune’s Natu Pratishthan ^[2].