Gadchiroli district is situated on the eastern border of Maharashtra, bordering Chhattisgarh in the East and Telangana in the South. The district headquarter, Gadchiroli, is about 175 km south of the nearest city Nagpur.
Gadchiroli is one of the poorest and least developed districts in India. While rest of the Maharashtra and India is marching ahead, Gadchiroli district with nearly one million populations, 36% of which are tribal, is lagging behind in various parameters of human development index. The HDI (2002) of Gadchiroli was 0.22, the lowest in the State whereas the HDI of Mumbai was 1.00.
People already suffering from poverty, illiteracy, backwardness are further handicapped by the plethora of diseases such as malnutrition, malaria, anaemia, sickle cell anaemia, childhood mortality, tuberculosis, snake bites, and non communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes, back pain and stroke. To address these, physician to population ratio in Gadchiroli is 1:5032, whereas the ratio for India is about 1: 1500. The government health system is inadequate because of thin population density and not seeking of healthcare by the tribal population. Unwillingness of the doctors and the health service personnel to serve in the district is a major hindrance.
