Hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds, the selected students of the programme are children of landless farmers, daily labourers, vegetable sellers, roadside vendors, with most of the families hardly getting two square meals a day.

Despite the challenges, these five students performed excellently in NEET 2020 and secured seats in prestigious government medical colleges of the coastal state. Fourteen students of Zindagi Foundation had cracked the medical entrance test in 2018 and 12 of them had got admitted to government medical institutions in Odisha.

Speaking at the event, an academician said, "These students come from a very poor background and their families barely manage to have proper meals every day. We provide them with all facilities free of cost and help them realise their dream of becoming doctors. Families of these students are not in a position to afford even the nominal fees of government medical colleges and their happiness converts into sorrow. We approached some groups like Saloni Heart Foundation who have taken the responsibility to cover expenses for their studies, food and hostel accommodation during the entire five-year MBBS course."

Noting that the challenge was more severe this time because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the academician said, "We did not let the spirit of the students dip and provided all assistance to help them crack the difficult NEET exam. The scholarship amount is transferred to the bank accounts of the students directly to ensure complete transparency", he said. The man behind the Zindagi programme, was a brilliant student and wanted to become a doctor. However, he had to quit his studies due to the sudden illness of his father and start earning to meet the medical expenses of his ailing father.

Navigating through severe financial difficulties, he even sold tea and 'sherbet (squash) at Deogarh Shravani Mela in Jharkhand in the early 90s to sustain his family after the death of his father due to a kidney ailment. "I could not become a doctor myself but I live my dreams through them," he said.