Quick Facts
Biography
Sheetal Amte is an Indian public health expert, disability specialist and social entrepreneur. She is Chief Executive Officer and board member of a non-profit organisation, Maharogi Sewa Samiti, which focuses on helping people disadvantaged by leprosy.
Life
Amte is the daughter of Vikas and Bharati Amte and granddaughter of Baba Amte, a follower of Gandhi who established a rehabilitation home for lepers in Anandwan, in the state of Maharashtra. She also established Maharogi Sewa Samiti to run the facilities, which include a range of health care, rehabilitation, education, agriculture, and economic empowerment programmes.
Amte studied medicine and became a doctor, and joined her family working at Anandwan to continue her grandfather's vision; her brother Kaustubh is an accountant for Anandwan and her uncle Prakash Amte and aunt Mandakini Amte are also doctors at the community.
Amte helped to secure the financial assistance of the Tech Mahindra Foundation to provide food for children in Anandwan schools. She also led the installation of solar power panels at the community, resulting in Maharogi Sewa Samiti receiving an award for Innovative Energy Project of the Year 2016 from the Association of Energy Engineers, and intends to incorporate more smart technology into the community in future.
In 2016 Amte was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. She was also selected as a United Nations Innovation Ambassador and an advisor to i4P (Innovations for Peace).