Arogya Adhikar Andolan: R. R. Pandayan Saheb’s Protest for Free Healthcare and Medicines for the Poor

In the narrow alleys of Maharashtra’s slums and villages, many poor families live just one illness away from bankruptcy. A simple fever turns deadly when there’s no money for a doctor. A woman skips treatment because she can’t afford the injection. An old man dies waiting for a hospital bed.

While the rich walk into AC hospitals with insurance cards, the poor are left standing outside — ignored, humiliated, and helpless.

R. R. Pandayan Saheb refuses to accept this cruelty.

That’s why he launched the Arogya Adhikar Andolan — a powerful, state-wide movement demanding free, accessible, and dignified healthcare for every poor citizen in Maharashtra.

💥 Why This Fight Began

R. R. Pandayan Saheb has always believed that healthcare is a basic human right, not a service to be bought. He began this movement after visiting multiple urban bastis and rural areas where:

  • Patients were turned away from government hospitals due to lack of staff.
  • Poor families were handed prescriptions worth ₹3,000–₹5,000 that they couldn’t afford.
  • Essential medicines were “out of stock” in public pharmacies.
  • Many elderly, pregnant women, and children received no care at all.

Saheb says:

“You ask the poor to vote every 5 years. But when they fall sick, you give them only waiting lists. I won’t let this injustice continue.”

 

🛑 What the Arogya Adhikar Andolan Demands

The movement, led by R. R. Pandayan Saheb, puts forth clear, urgent, and achievable demands:

  1. Establishment of free “Mohalla Dawakhanas” in every slum and rural cluster.
  2. Supply of 100+ essential medicines and emergency injections free of cost through public hospitals and health camps.
  3. Deployment of mobile medical vans in remote and neglected areas.
  4. Immediate activation and awareness of Ayushman Bharat and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojna for eligible BPL families.
  5. Special healthcare cards for disabled, senior citizens, and single mothers for priority treatment.

✊ How R. R. Pandayan Saheb Leads the Movement

This movement is not about speeches — it’s about sweat and service.

🔹 Saheb personally visits government hospitals, checking the conditions, questioning staff, and inspecting free medicine counters.

🔹 He has written official memorandums to the Maharashtra Health Minister, demanding action within a time-bound frame.

🔹 Organized over 50 free medical camps in the last year with volunteer doctors, distributing free medicines and conducting health checkups.

🔹 Created a helpline for poor families to report denial of treatment or lack of medicine.

🔹 Supported low-income patients by helping them apply for state health schemes and even crowd-funding for surgeries in extreme cases.

“Government hospitals should be temples of healing — not places where the poor are punished for being poor.”

— R. R. Pandayan Saheb

👥 Real Stories That Moved the Movement

In Chembur’s slum area, a young girl with a kidney infection was denied admission due to a lack of beds. Her father, a rickshaw driver, approached Saheb’s team. Within 24 hours, Saheb intervened, got her shifted to Sion Hospital, and her entire treatment was covered under MJPJAY.

 

In Beed, a pregnant woman lost her baby due to medicine stockouts. R. R. Pandayan Saheb personally visited the family, organized a press conference, and demanded that the responsible doctor be suspended. He also demanded monthly audits of rural PHCs (Primary Health Centres).

These are not isolated cases — they represent a pattern of systemic neglect. And Saheb is fighting to break that pattern.

🔊 Pressure on the Government

In recent rallies, R. R. Pandayan Saheb openly questioned the government’s silence:

“Your budget gives crores to expressways and statues — but not ₹50 lakhs for a slum clinic? If you can give free ACs to ministers, you can give paracetamol to the poor!”

He warned that if basic health demands are not met, his party will organize:

  • Statewide hospital marches
  • Gherao of health department offices
  • Legal PILs in High Court for violation of Right to Life (Article 21)

🔚 The Vision: A Healthy Maharashtra for All

R. R. Pandayan Saheb envisions a Maharashtra where:

  • No poor woman dies during childbirth due to lack of facilities.
  • No old man has to beg for asthma medicine.
  • No child is denied treatment because their father is a worker, not a millionaire.

“This is not a favour we ask. This is a right we demand. Health cannot depend on wealth — it must depend on justice.”

— R. R. Pandayan Saheb

Through his words, his work, and his war against apathy, Pandayan Saheb is building a future where healthcare serves the many, not the money.