Omkar Nath Sharma Biography 
Omkar Nath Sharma, fondly called "Medicine Baba" is a 75+ year old man, who voluntarily collects unused medicines from people and later distributes them to needy and poor people. His services are concentrated more in the areas of Delhi, though helps are forwarded by people and NGOs from outside India also. He lives with his wife and a mentally challenged son of age 44 in a rental home in the Mangalapuri slums of Delhi. He retired as a blood bank technician from a hospital in New Delhi.
He witnessed one particular incident in 2008, which changed his life forever. In 2008 when Delhi Metro under-construction bridge collapsed in Lakshmi Nagar East Delhi, two labourers lost their lives and many were injured. Omkar witnessed this incident. Though the severely injured people were taken to the hospital nearby, they were given only first aid and the labourers were so poor to afford the high expense of medicines for treatment. Thus two of them lost their lives. Deeply hurt with this incident, Sharma started collecting unused medicines from homes and later distribute to the needy.
He was crippled at the age of 12 in a car accident. Yet he starts every day at 7.30 am and goes door by door to different residential areas of Delhi. He collects unwanted/unused medicines from people, later categorizes them. He also records the name of the drug, the manufacturer, from where he collected it and the expiry date. Thus he owns ‘A Medicine Bank’ and distributes the medicines to the poor without expecting anything in return.
He uses his senior citizen card to travel by buses, as he can’t afford the charges of metro trains. But very often he needs to walk to the remote areas to collect medicines. Now many volunteers have joined his mission – to make a stronger bank of expensive medicines and make it availbale to the poor who can’t afford it; an effort that even the government has failed several times. Thus through his efforts he saves many lives.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 20, 2016
