Chiranjeeb Kakoty

Dr Chiranjeeb Kakoty began the Northeast Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (NESPYM) in Guwahati to spread awareness about AIDS. He has helped form collectives of women. The NESPYM has worked closely with sex workers. He is also providing geriatric care. He has shown that a doctor can provide a healing touch for society’s ills.

Below is a piece that appeared in Civil Society's September-October 2012 edition. Read on.

As news arrives of more than 8,000 children waiting for urgent medical attention in violence hit Lower Assam, an agitated Dr. Chiranjeeb Kakoty expresses anger and helplessness. Local Bodo leaders have told NGOs like his North East Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (NESPYM) to stay away.

But Dr Kakoty is not one to hold himself back. He is restless. In his large well-lit office room, the reticent doctor hesitates to recall his journey of voluntary work. As a child, he had one single focus – to become a doctor and that dream didn’t fail him.

In 1998 as a medical student in Guwahati, Dr Kakoty recalls how he started working against drug abuse. Along with a dozen medical students he began providing basic education to pavement dwellers under flyovers and people in slums. The funding came from their own pocket. Money provided by their parents to buy new clothes for Durga Puja was funneled into financing t