Omkarnath spends his days searching New Delhi for prescription medication. A call to the phone number printed boldly on his saffron-colored tunic reveals his alternate identity:

Hello, I am Medicine Baba.

The chatty, 79-year-old retired blood-bank technician has been collecting unused prescription drugs from the affluent for eight years now, and distributing whatever hasn’t expired to patients who need medicines they cannot afford.

Omkarnath walks with a limp after an accident left him with dislocated bones in both legs. He is not a trained pharmacist but he will ask for a doctor’s prescription before giving out any medicine. He doesn’t charge, though he says the value of what he gives away each month is more than Rs 56 lakhs.