Our Journey began long back, when Dr.Vasudev J. Raval (our paternal grandfather) became the first physician to set up base in a small town of Gujarat in 1944. He devoted his entire life to serving the poor and needy patients, working tirelessly and selflessly, not charging even the consultation fees. In fact, he went ahead and spent from his own pocket to give food to the poor and hungry patients. His life is exemplary of what and how much an individual can give back to the society rather than always expecting from it Dr.Vasudev J. Raval’s son, and our father, Dr. Anil Raval has been walking in his footsteps since his career began, and continues to do so today, as a septuagenarian. He too serves the community, selflessly.

The third generation in the Raval family, that is us, are doctors too. Dr. Anil Raval’s daughters, we, Dr. Smita Joshi and Dr Shukla Raval as well as son, Dr Nirav Raval are part of the medical fraternity. Our grandfather, Dr.Vasudev J. Raval, at the time of our medical school admission, had taken a promise from us- the assurance of following the family mantra of “Giving back to Society.” Placing our hand of oath, in his hand, we promised to abide by the family mantra-Giving back to society.

Grandfather took us to tribal areas for medical camps, to begin engagement with serving the community. The “Sewa Murti” comprising of my grandfather, Dr.Vasudev J.Raval (Unjha), Dr. Dwarkadas Joshi (Vadnagar) and Dr. Vasant Parikh (Vadnagar) collectively organised these camps. So great has been the dedication and commitment of these men that the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji considers the three men as Guru, in the field of Medical Sewa. Needless to say the “Sewa Murti” have been a source of inspiration for us, all through.

We two, the sisters, Dr Smita Joshi and Dr. Shukla Raval, have been continuously involved with welfare of tribal women and children, for more than 25 years. During our work, in 2018, we heard a heart-touching conversation, between a mother and her four- year-old daughter. While giving an insulin injection to her daughter, a mother was crying. The little one requested her mom “Please don’t cry. This needle is not hurting me as much as your tears are.” So saying, she wiped the tears off her mother’s cheeks with her baby palms. A little girl’s profound words deeply impacted my sister and my heart. That moment itself, we decided to do something good for the betterment of Type1 Diabetes Children. We put our life on Mission Mode.

To take forward the family mantra -“Giving back to society” in our next generation (the 4th generation), we included our sons, Raja Joshi and Mann Pancholi respectively, who were in the medical school then, in this noble mission.

We started to study the scenario of Type1 Diabetes Children in India .

We found some facts:

- India has the highest number of Type1 Diabetes Children and adolescents in the World, followed by USA.

- As per National Diabetologists, there are around 8 lakhs Type1 Diabetes children in India.

- In India , the average life span of these children is below 29 years, and is unfortunately so, as compared with the USA (58 years) and UK (70 years).

- One of the greatest discovery of Medical science is that of “Insulin”. In 1922 It was first tried on a fourteen- year- old diabetic boy, Leonard Thompson, who lived in Canada. But unfortunately, after more than 100 years, there is still an extreme lack of awareness regarding Type1 Diabetes in India . Majority of the people know Diabetes as a disease of senior citizens. The fact that children may also have Diabetes is still barely known fact.

- We found, during our independent research, that India has a very good National Health Program for Children, named “Rastriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram” RBSK. This program includes 30 Diseases that affect children. However, unfortunately, Type1 Diabetes is not included in RBSK, National Health Program.

- We also found that India has a very good National Health Program- regarding management of Diabetes of 140 crore people, named under the Non- Communicable Disease-NCD Program.

But there is a hurdle. As per the guideline, this program is viable for only those people who are above 18 years of age.

- The lacuna upset us. No National Health Program, neither RBSK nor NCD includes Type 1 Diabetes Children (0-18 years) or its sustained scientific management.Hence Unfortunately The affected are not benefited.

- We have been a witness to the struggle of the parents and the hard time they face with the economic burden procuring and injecting their diabetic children with insulin 3-4 times per day as well as frequent hospitalisation due to Diabetes related complications.

Our heart ached after seeing their pain and was broken, when a senior Diabetologists narrated that on one particular occasion, due to the economic burden of insulin injections the parents of a Diabetic daughter, were compelled to stop the injections, leading to her premature death, an unfortunate avoidable childhood fatality.

- We sadly share, that along the way, we learned of many young, diabetic girls who committed suicide because of the social stigma and belief that no one will marry them.

- We found that many mothers suffered from depression, and couldn’t sleep at night, because of the fear that at night, their diabetic kid may develop the petrifying hypoglycaemia and die.

We decided and took on three types of roles.

1 - Direct Help: to diabetic children at our own expense.

- supplying and distributing free of cost Glucometer and strips.

- organising medical camps -for their eye check- up, kidney check- up, growth and developmental check up

- organising motivational camps for counselling parents and Type1 adolescents.

2 - Awareness: We organised many self sponsored and awareness campaigns from “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”, driving a self-driven car across the country, setting up awareness gatherings in cities as we drove on-

*from Himatnagar medical college Gujarat to Indian Medical Association H.Q. New Delhi,

*from Gandhi Ashram Ahmedabad to Raj Ghat New Delhi,

*from San Francisco to Atlanta in USA.

3 - ADVOCACY:

After six years of persistent awareness campaigns (Nationally and Globally) and our Herculean efforts for Advocacy in AAPI-USA, Central Government of India and Gujarat State Government towards betterment of Type1 Diabetes affected children of India, we received historic, positive outcomes.

- American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, AAPI-USA declared 28th November as “Type1 Diabetes Day” globally. AAPI is the most prestigious, influential organisation, with close to 1,00,000 practicing Doctors in USA as members.

- The Ministry of Health, Government of India, made Draft- National Guidelines for Non-Communicable Diseases in children.

- The Gujarat Government passed a bill of 13.88 crore rupees for Management of Type1 Diabetes Children in their BUDGET 2023-24 as recurring budget, for the first time in India .

These historic decisions will make a difference in the life of millions of children across India.

Our mission continues. We strongly believe that Type1 Diabetic children whether born in USA, in India or anywhere else rightly deserve equal care and attention globally.