Pawan Bali, Ladakh: Here is a story of a doctor in Ladakh who has worked in minus 10 degree Celsius inside a labour room and has crossed frozen rivers to reach her patients.

At 62, gynaecologist Dr. Tsering Lahdol hardly pauses to rest.

Lahdol is still as keen to attend to patients as she was in 1972, when she first came to Ladakh as a doctor. And it is an experience she admits that was very challenging in the beginning.

"It was difficult in a sense. I was all alone and I was treating people all the way from Kargil to Ladakh," says Lahdol.

For more than 30 years, Lahdol worked as the lone obstetrician in the region. There were times when she travelled on foot to reach her patients. She worked with minimum amenities even in freezing temperatures inside the labour rooms.

"We would heat a coal bukhari inside the operation theatres, but it was dangerous. We would heat a stove below the operation tables in the labour room," says Lahdol.

Lahdol also started a programme for Budhhist nuns, training them to work as nurses in remote areas.

She was awarded the Padamshree in 2006. And for being an effective agent for social change, she was also listed among the 1,000 Peace Women across the globe, an honour that came as a complete surprise.

"When the 1000 women letter came, I thought it was a joke; then I rechecked with them. The Padamshree was also announced," says Lahdol.

So Lahdol is one doctor who has faced all odds to bring in a new life to this world.