After Panchayat, Gram Chikitsalaya explores merits, challenges of city-trained professionals working in Indian villages

Anandeshwar Dwivedi and Amol Parashar in 'Gram Chikitsalaya', streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Halfway through the five-episode TVF series ‘Gram Chikitsalaya’ that dropped on Amazon Prime Video on May 9, the lead character – Dr Prabhat Sinha (played by Amol Parashar) – brings up a statistic: one doctor per thousand population. His throwaway comment offers a cue to the preoccupations of this series: The role and responsibility of the sincere MO (medical officer) in a small rural outpost in India – in this case, in Jharkhand.

One doctor per thousand population is, of course, a reference to the World Health Organization recommendation, to provide adequate healthcare. Union health ministry data put the Indian doctor-to-population ratio at 1:834 as of July 2022; this ratio includes AYUSH doctors. In August 2024, minister of state Anupriya Patel told Lok Sabha that India had 1.368 million registered allopathic doctors for 1.43 billion people, or roughly one doctor trained in Western medicine for every 1,051 people.

Whichever ratio you go with, the fact remains that most of these doctors are concentrated in and around the cities and big towns, with medical facilities in villages and remote areas lagging to varying degrees. This is the premise of the show, and the WHO statistic is part of the scaffolding of 'Gram Chikitsalaya', which centres around the experiences of Dr Prabhat, a gold-medallist doctor whose father owns a hospital in the city.

The story, in a nutshell, follows Dr Prabhat as he comes to a village called Bhatkandi as MO, only to find that the primary health centre (PHC) there is deserted and the path to his office overgrown with crops ready to harvest. No previous MO has made an effort to see patients at this PHC, and the people have turned to the village quack (Vinay Pathak) who googles disease symptoms to diagnose everything from hypothyroidism to minor infections and touts a very shady looking Gelusil-pink booster as a magic cure for terminal conditions. Dr Prabhat’s challenges include, on the one hand, public mistrust of government services, and on the other, misuse of medicines by his own staff. Dr Prabhat is also on a steep learning curve here, in terms of understanding both the rhythms of village life and why it’s not enough for him to just show up and offer his services as a doctor.

Throughout the five episodes, though, we see much more of the scaffolding of the show. It’s as if creators Deepak Kumar Mishra and Arunabh Kumar, director Rahul Pandey, and writers Vaibhav–Shreya, had a checklist of things that the research had thrown up. Indeed, many of the things that a medical officer can be called upon to do, Dr Prabhat is asked to do within days or weeks of arriving in Bhatkandi. Sign for vaccines, to be administered during a medical camp – check. Get asked to issue false medical certificates for a range of misuses, from extending a corrupt official’s paid leave to evidence of a violent attack in a court of law – check. Get schooled in how to make do with what you’ve got rather than expect things to work like they do in the city – check. Mental health issues and sensitivities around it in many parts of India – check… As such, the show doesn't have the lightness of 'Panchayat'. or even 'Dupahiya', which dips into village life to surface delicious tidbits from old social expectations to social media trends.

The series stars (from left) Santoo Kumar, Garima Vikrant Singh, Akash Makhija, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Amol Parashar and Vinay Pathak, as well as Akansha Ranjan Kapoor as Dr Gargi (below). (Images courtesy Prime Video)

Made by the creators of the popular 'Panchayat' series, 'Gram Chikitsalaya' is not the first show to take an idealist professional into what others might consider a punishment posting. It is also not the first piece of content where the protagonist has a hard time setting things right, despite all their education and good intentions. The 2017 film 'Newton', starring Rajkummar Rao, saw a government clerk trying to set up a voting booth in Central India – perhaps not far from where Dr Prabhat found himself on his first medical posting. There has also been a string of TV and film doctors heading to the villages, again with good intentions and little support. Among the film and OTT doctors to have charted this path before are Dr Sunil Mehra (Manoj Kumar) in 'Himalay Ki God Mein' (1965) and Dr Shreya of 'Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2' (2019), for instance. Dr Prabhat’s journey then is not unique, but it is an interesting – if not always entertaining – addition to a list of shows about young people who believe in building India up, and believe that they have a personal responsibility to the country and its people.

Akansha Ranjan Kapoor as Dr Gargi.

One final observation: as with series like 'Panchayat', 'Gullak' and 'Dupahiya,' the background score here (by Nilotpal Bora) offers the show a welcome lightness in places and deep resonance in others. The two songs in 'Gram Chikitsalaya': "Kanchi Tori Kaya" (composed and sung by Rohit Sharma, with lyrics by Dr Sagar) and "Kanhaiya" (composed by Nilotpal Bora, sung by Rohit Sharma, and with lyrics again by Dr Sagar) stand out for performance as well as the function they serve in the series: both times, the songs are sung in large gatherings. The first time, it’s at a dinner to celebrate a village hero who's passed away. The second time, it’s at a festival-like vaccination camp in the village – an entertaining reinforcement of the idea that if you are going to offer people services, even essential medical services, you have to do it at terms and in circumstances they can relate to.