News from MAHAN Trust and the Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital, Melghat — newest first.
2 October 2026
Savitribai Phule Adivasi Hospital, Dharni opened
On Gandhi Jayanti and Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti, 2 October 2026, a new hospital was dedicated and inaugurated in Melghat: Savitribai Phule Adivasi Hospital, Dharni. It will be run jointly by Tribal Health Upliftment Foundation (THUF), a Section 8 company, and MAHAN Trust. The dispensary started at this place a few months ago has today become a full hospital.
The Rotary Club of Bombay Bay View donated generously towards its construction. On the first day, 119 patients, most of them poor tribals, received free consultation and treatment; five serious patients are being treated in its ICU, and Dr. Kavita Satav gave new sight to four elderly tribal patients through cataract operations with lens implants.
English translation of MAHAN’s Hindi message of 3 October 2026.
23 September 2026
MAHAN recognised by DSIR as SIRO
“Respected and dear all, happy to inform that MAHAN has been provided recognition by DSIR as SIRO. Thanks a lot for your support.” — Dr. Ashish Satav
2 September 2026
28 years of service in Melghat
On the night of 2 September 1998, Dr. Ashish Satav and Dr. Kavita Satav left their lecturer posts at Sevagram Medical College, Wardha, and reached Dharni at about two in the morning. The hospital began in a small rented house in Dharni and a hut in a nearby village.
Today, through MAHAN: more than 3.5 lakh poor and tribal patients treated free of cost; more than 5,500 serious patients saved through ICU-level emergency care; more than 4,000 cataract and eye operations; thousands of children brought out of severe malnutrition, with projects such as nutrition gardens.
From MAHAN’s Hindi post “सपनों से जीवन की ओर” (English translation).
21 August 2026
ICU full — every bed fighting for a life
Tonight, the ICU of MAHAN's Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital, Melghat, is running at full capacity — 8 seriously ill patients are battling for their lives, and 7 of them are poor tribal patients from remote villages of Melghat. In a region with no intensivist and no other critical care facility for miles, our ICU is often the only hope between life and death for the Korku and Gond tribal families of these forested hills.
A freedom fighter who worked alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan, he came to Melghat at the age of eighty-three to train tribal farmers in low-cost organic farming, travelling 263 kilometres by bus from Wardha.
Serve. Learn. Grow. MAHAN Trust, Melghat is an official Government of Maharashtra recognised bond centre: experience of ICU, surgical camps and community health, a fair stipend and expert mentorship.
On 10 July 2026, our beloved Ramesh "Uncle" Kacholia passed away. For MAHAN, he was far more than a donor. When he first visited our tiny hut-like hospital and saw that we had no ambulance, he arranged one through Caring Friends, saving countless tribal lives thereafter.
The Government of Maharashtra has decided to independently implement MAHAN's method of Severe Malnutrition Management across more than 200 villages in Melghat, utilizing our Local Therapeutic Food (LTF) model. Training of government staff began on 17 June. It marks the 50th government policy change brought about by the efforts of MAHAN Trust, after 15 years of field research.
Paralysed, with sepsis, pneumonia and failing organs, Jamnu (45) arrived at the hospital in a condition many would call terminal. After weeks of care in the MAHAN ICU and the Shanti-Nilayam hospice, she returned home to her village.
A young life saved where there is no other ICU for 90 km
A 21-year-old poor tribal girl was admitted to the ICU of MAHAN Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital in a very serious condition — bleeding tendency with severe anaemia (Hb below 2 gm), pneumonia, sepsis, respiratory failure with severe hypoxia and septic shock. With no critical care hospital within a 90 km radius, the team decided not to give up: oxygen, multiple blood transfusions and life-saving medicines. After a struggle of 10 days, she could walk.
7 February 2026
The mother who refused to fade
A young tribal mother with tuberculosis, sepsis, septic shock and ARDS was on a ventilator for 15 days and nights. On the sixteenth day the ventilator was removed, and she walked out of the hospital on her own feet.
Every bed in our ICU is occupied — breadwinners, mothers and young labourers; five of them are fighting tuberculosis and its complications. For over two decades our research has shown that TB is the primary thief of life for those in their most productive years. In 27 years, more than 5,000 tribal brothers and sisters have walked out of the hospital and back to their families.
12 January 2026
Saving the “last person”
Arjun (name changed), a young tribal man from Madhya Pradesh living with paraplegia, reached the hospital in septic shock with pneumonia and respiratory failure. After days of intensive care, provided completely free of cost, he was saved.
Reconstructive plastic surgery camp: 138 free surgeries
The Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Camp has been organised at Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital for the last 17 years, since 2008, under the guidance of plastic surgeon Dr. Dilip Gahankari. This year 138 surgeries were carried out free of cost by a team of experts from across India — post-burn contractures, oral cavity cancers, breast and parotid tumours, cleft lip and palate, goitres, hernias and more. Till date, 2,085 surgeries have been carried out free in these camps.
The surgical team in the operation theatre after the December 2025 plastic surgery camp
19 December 2025
NDTV Indian of the Year 2025 — Health Leader
Dr. Ashish Satav and Dr. Kavita Satav received the NDTV Indian of the Year 2025 award as Health Leader at The Oberoi, New Delhi, on 19 December 2025.
Dr. Ashish Satav and Dr. Kavita Satav with the NDTV Indian of the Year 2025 trophies
17 December 2025
Forbes India We Serve India — National winner
Dr. Ashish Satav was selected as a National Winner of Forbes India – We Serve India Season 2, presented by Lions Clubs International, in the category Inclusive Healthcare & Accessibility. The National Awards Ceremony was held at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, on 17 December 2025.
Forbes India We Serve India National award, Gandhinagar, December 2025
7 December 2025
Real happiness in saving lives
In one single day, MAHAN's team stabilised and saved five critical, poor tribal patients in the ICU — three of them young men and women admitted on the very verge of death. When we save a young adult, we are saving a farmer, a mother, a community leader, and the livelihood of a whole family.
3 November 2025
Forbes India We Serve India — Regional winner
Regional winner in the category Inclusive Healthcare & Accessibility, at the South & West Zone Regional Awards Ceremony, Visakhapatnam, on 3 November 2025. "Received award from Lions International and Forbes India." — Dr. Ashish Satav
Forbes India We Serve India Regional award, Visakhapatnam, November 2025
19–21 September 2025
Free surgical camp: more than 53 surgeries
More than 53 surgeries were performed free of cost — mostly hysterectomies for women silently enduring gynaecological problems, and endonasal DCR, hernia, fistula and other operations. Anaesthesia by Dr. Maya Bhalerao; surgeons Dr. Sudhir Bhalerao, Dr. Vinit Kolhe and Dr. Ajay Deshpande, supported by Dr. Kavita Satav and Dr. Gode.
10–11 September 2025
ICMR best poster award
"Happy to announce that MAHAN Trust received best poster award in RURAL national conference by ICMR." Dr. Ashish Satav also spoke at the National Symposium on Rural and Tribal Health Research organised by ICMR-NIRRCH and the Model Rural Health Research Unit, Dahanu.
Dr. Ashish Satav speaking at the ICMR national symposium on rural and tribal health research, September 2025
2 September 2025
27 years of Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital
On the night of 1 September 1998 we arrived in Dharni with a truck full of hospital equipment. Over 27 years, more than 1.39 lakh patients have been treated, including 5,404 critical cases like heart attacks, sepsis, coma and cerebral malaria. Over 2,938 free eye surgeries restored vision, and 36,194 people were saved from blindness. Our home-based child care programme reduced child deaths by 75.59%. We celebrated the anniversary by saving 5 poor serious tribal patients.
July 2025
MAHAN’s TB research presented in Malaysia
The MAHAN team presented its tuberculosis project at an international meeting in Malaysia, with global health experts: a systematic review of the barriers to and enablers of TB diagnosis, notification and intervention in tribal communities of India (funded by NIHR, UK).
Dr. Ashish Satav with global health experts beside MAHAN’s TB poster, Malaysia, July 2025
26 July 2025
The girl who returned from the edge
A fifteen-year-old girl, unconscious with sepsis, convulsions and severe anaemia after delivering a baby, was carried to the hospital through flooded roads. After six days of intensive care she woke, and walked out of the hospital smiling. There was no bill.
18 years of the hospital: from cloudburst to lifeline
On 7 July 2007, MAHAN Trust with Kasturba Health Society, Sevagram, inaugurated the Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital. Shortly after the inauguration a cloudburst blocked both routes out of Melghat and the guests were trapped in the forest; all were rescued safely.
Our Doctor's Day celebration was not with bouquets, but in the ICU, where the team was working to save seven critically ill tribal patients. That day we could save three young lives — patients of heart attack and snakebite.
22 June 2025
Yashoda Mata Human Milk Bank opened
MAHAN Trust and the Rotary Club of Nagpur Vision set up the Yashoda Mata Human Milk Bank at Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital. Safe, pasteurised donor milk is given free to newborns whose mothers cannot breastfeed. The press called it "the first Human Milk Bank Centre at a tribal area in India" (The Hitavada) and "perhaps the first free milk bank in tribal areas across the entire country" (The Times of India).
The Hitavada, 27 June 2025: RCNV starts Human Milk Bank at MelghatThe Times of India, Nagpur: Human milk bank for malnourished Melghat newborns
1 June 2025
A dream fulfilled in the hills of Melghat
A poor woman with an oxygen saturation of just 68% was saved on a ventilator in our ICU. When she walked back to the hospital, our new young medical officer said: "This is the first time I have felt such deep satisfaction in my life. This is why I became a doctor."
A 9-year-old boy with sickle cell crisis, multi-organ failure, ARDS and status epilepticus was brought to the ICU in an extremely critical condition. The MAHAN team battled day and night — and the child survived.
MAHAN has taken on the challenge of reaching 400 remote tribal villages — 300 in Melghat and 100 in Madhya Pradesh — where nearly 400,000 tribal people and students from over 100 schools are at risk of preventable blindness.
Free surgery camp with the Rotary Club of Nagpur Vision
36 underprivileged tribal patients were operated free of cost for uterine cancer, goitres, hernias and other ailments. In the last 3 months, MAHAN Trust conducted 3 free surgery camps that benefitted more than 200 poor tribal patients.
February 2025
Honours for MAHAN’s doctors
Dr. Vibhawari Dani — 1st TEER Award in oral presentation, and Dr. Abhijit Bharadwaj — 2nd TEER Award, at the First International Tribal Health Symposium. Dr. Dilip Gahankari and Dr. Kavita Satav — Champions of Rural Surgery National Awards.
20–24 December 2024
Free plastic surgery camp: over 145 patients
Over 145 tribal patients received life-changing surgery for post-burn contractures, breast cancer, parotid tumours, uterine cancer and other conditions, by a team of visiting surgeons and anaesthetists led by Dr. Dilip Gahankari.
27 October 2024
A Deepawali of sight for 11 tribal patients
At the Chintaman Paranjape Vision Endowment Eye Department of the hospital, a free cataract surgery camp restored sight to 11 tribal patients, some of them blind in both eyes for years — by Dr. Nikhil Gotmare, Dr. Mrs. Gotmare, Dr. Kitkule and Dr. Kavita Satav.
6 October 2024
Honoured by ICA, USA
Indians for Collective Action (ICA) honoured Dr. Ashish Satav and Dr. Kavita Satav at its Annual Event, "Transforming to a Healthier World".
2 September 2024
26 years of MAHAN
MAHAN Trust celebrated its 26th anniversary by saving 2 serious patients.
28 August 2024
A birthday spent saving a young life
On his birthday, Dr. Ashish Satav saw the recovery of a 21-year-old tribal woman who had arrived with sickle cell crisis, heart disease, ARDS and an oxygen saturation of 40%; her haemoglobin rose from 2 to 7.2 g/dL.
Dr. Ajay, Dr. Amol, Dr. Amar and Dr. Arti gifted sight to 31 tribal patients free of cost, with Dr. Kavita Satav and the MAHAN staff.
March 2024
Free surgery camp with Pune and Nagpur teams
Visiting surgical teams from Pune and Nagpur operated 29 patients on the first day and 56 on the next, across 7 operating tables — thyroid, hysterectomy, parotid, endonasal DCR, hernia and other surgeries.
21–27 December 2023
Plastic surgery camp: 182 surgeries
Dr. Dilip Gahankari, leading a team of expert doctors, performed 182 surgeries during the four-day plastic surgery camp, with two more days of general, goitre and other surgery. Six screening camps from September to December 2023 reached over 300 people in remote areas of Melghat and Madhya Pradesh.
30 November 2023
Shanti-Nilayam hospice
The Wairagkar family remembered Mr. Suresh Chandra Wairagkar, in whose memory the four-bed Shanti-Nilayam hospice gives free care, with 24/7 doctors and nurses, to terminally ill patients and grief counselling to their families.
MAHAN staff at the Shanti-Nilayam hospice, in memory of Suresh Chandra Wairagkar
