[1][2] Bawaskar was born to Saluba and Rakhmabai in Dehed village (now in Bhokardan, Jalna, Maharashtra)[3] He completed his schooling in Buldhana and worked in the farms, restaurants, temples, bookshops, the brick kiln, and held odd jobs to support his education.
[10] Over the next 40 years of medical career, Bawaskar spent most of his time in the rural Konkan region of Maharashtra, at the foothills of Western ghats.
At Birwadi, he witnessed high fatality rates of 8–40% due to the stings of Hottentotta tamulus scorpions; children being majority of the victims.
[28] In the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Bawaskar has researched on the chronic renal failure associated with heavy metals contamination of drinking water.
[9] He has written opinion pieces on ethics[29][30] corruption in medicine,[2][31] public healthcare,[32] violence against doctors,[33] and state of medical research[24] in India.