Nagpur: The Regional Mental Hospital (RMH) in Nagpur has seen a quiet transformation in its Women’s Section under Kunda Katekhaye Bidkar, the Social Service Superintendent (Psychiatry), whose work has focused on restoring identity, rights and family ties for women living with mental illness.Bidkar has spent 26 years in service, joining the RMH in September 2021 and leading the Women’s Section since July 2023. She is trained in social work with a BSW, an MSW in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work, and an MPhil in Social Work.Since July 2023, Bidkar has traced families and facilitated the reunion of 187 unidentified women with their relatives across 17 Indian states. One case extended beyond national borders: in June 2025, she coordinated what is being described as India’s first cross-border reunion of its kind, working with the Ministry of External Affairs to ensure the safe handover of a woman from Chittagong at the India–Bangladesh border. Her rehabilitation efforts have also included interstate placements, including a December 2025 rehabilitation through an NGO in Telangana.Many reunions involved separations spanning decades. Among them was a 75-year-old woman with dementia reunited with family after 35 years. Other women were traced and reconnected after 36, 28, 26, 22, 21, 17 and 14 years. In one case, siblings were reunited after 42 years through telephonic counselling alone.Beyond reunification, Bidkar has pursued legal remedies in 32 cases through the District Legal Services Authority, including recovery of property valued at over ₹20 lakh in a West Bengal matter, cancellation of erroneous death certificates, and resolution of marital and maintenance disputes.Her work typically requires coordination across states with police, district administrations and NGOs, along with sustained follow-up that can stretch for months or years. She has also helped families access government schemes to support long-term reintegration and continues post-discharge counselling to reduce the risk of abandonment and relapse.“Each reunion comes after countless calls to police stations, SP or CP offices, panchayat offices, collector offices, sarpanch and police patils,” Bidkar said, describing repeated non-responses, resistance and discouragement. “Even we write to PMO and CMO in desperation after getting no responses. But help does come, and I track families from even the remotest part of any state and their contacts in the end,” said Kunda.She has been honoured with Best Employee awards (2024, 2025), the Nagpur Vibhuti Award (October 2025), the “Navdurga” title by a publication house, and recognition from state ministers of health and family welfare at AIIMS-Nagpur.
