Dr. Ratan Chandra Kar: The Doctor Who Earned the Trust of the Jarawas
Sri Vijaya Puram | August 24, 2026 When the Jarawa community of the Andaman Islands faced a serious measles outbreak in the late 1990s, one government doctor stepped into an extraordinarily difficult situation. Dr. Ratan Chandra Kar , later popularly known as the “Jarawa Doctor,” played an important role in providing medical care to the community while gradually earning its trust. Dr. Kar arrived in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1998 and was posted at Kadamtala, in an area close to Jarawa territory. At the time, contact with the highly protected indigenous community was extremely limited. His work therefore involved not only treating illness but also developing a relationship of trust. Fighting the Measles Outbreak The most critical period came during the 1999 measles outbreak . According to a published account of his work, Dr. Kar treated more than 100 Jarawa patients during the epidemic. Many were brought to the nearby hospital for treatment and recovered. His w...