Kendujhar, Odisha | July 1, 2025: In the quiet village of Champanagar Sahi, nestled in the forested hills near Daitari Mines in Kendujhar, 38-year-old Sanamani Hembram had lived with a painful lump on the back of her head for almost a year. Days were busy—spent in farming, gathering firewood, and raising a family. The discomfort was constant, but like many women around her, she endured it in silence.

“It didn’t feel urgent. We don’t think of doctors unless something becomes unbearable,” says her husband Tadakhan, who works as a seasonal farmhand and daily wage labourer. “And even then, we hesitate—what if it costs too much, or takes us too far from home?”

What helped Sanamani take the first step was not a diagnosis, but a story. A few months earlier, an elderly neighbor, Saraswati Munda, had discovered a growth in her leg during a free health camp at her village. She was referred for treatment, underwent surgery, and returned home safely. Her quiet recovery gave others the courage to speak up about their own health issues.

So when a free health camp returned to their village on 22nd April, Sanamani finally stepped forward.

Doctors day

Dr. Surendra Kumar, part of the visiting medical team, immediately noticed that her condition required further evaluation. She was referred to a local hospital in Daitari, where Dr. Vishwaranjan Patnaik conducted a detailed examination and facilitated her transfer to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for advanced care.

At SCB, a thorough clinical review revealed the lump as a papilloma—a benign epithelial tumour located in the occipital region. The diagnosis came as a relief. “Surgery was successful, with no complications. She responded well and made a smooth recovery,” said Dr. Himanshu Sekhar Mishra, Assistant Professor, Surgery at SCB.

Throughout this process, Sanamani and her husband were supported at every step—registration, travel, admission, follow-ups. “We didn’t feel lost, even in such a big hospital,” says Tadakhan. “The people guiding us were like family.”

doctors-patient

Behind this quiet support system is a growing network of Odisha Mining Corporation’s rural healthcare outreach that’s begun to bridge the gap between remote communities and formal care. Mobile health camps, community screenings, and hospital linkages are now slowly becoming part of the local landscape.

One key initiative making this possible is ‘Arogyabahini’, a mobile healthcare initiative under the CSR wing of the Odisha Mining Corporation. Launched to serve villages in the periphery of OMC’s mining areas, it currently operates six Mobile Health Units across 85 villages, offering primary healthcare and preventive screenings. In more serious cases like Sanamani’s, patients are referred to the OMC Hospital at Daitari, which serves over 150 patients daily, or to larger institutions like SCB Medical College in Cuttack with coordinated support. 

The crucial link is the Patient Facilitation Centre (PFC) set up by OMC at SCB Medical College. From booking appointments to post-surgical care, the PFC ensures patients from far-flung villages are never left to navigate the system alone.

To date, Arogyabahini has reached over 1.5 lakh people in interior Odisha. But its impact is perhaps best seen in the personal stories—like Sanamani’s—that travel by word of mouth, from one village to another.

On National Doctors’ Day, as India salutes its medical professionals, it is stories like these—from forest-fringed hamlets—that remind us how far healing can go when medicine meets empathy.