For nearly two decades, Wockhardt Foundation has been working across healthcare and social development with a focus on underserved communities. Its flagship Mobile 1000 programme currently operates 210 mobile clinics across 21 states, delivering free primary healthcare to communities that may otherwise face barriers to accessing medical services.

In an interview with HealthBiz, Dr Huzaifa Khorakiwala, Trustee and CEO, Wockhardt Foundation, discusses the Foundation's experience in mobile healthcare, the evolving role of CSR, preventive healthcare, maternal and child health, technology and the challenges of delivering healthcare at the grassroots.

Taking Primary Healthcare to the Last Mile

Established in 2008, Wockhardt Foundation has built its healthcare outreach around the Mobile 1000 programme.

According to Dr Khorakiwala, the programme currently operates 210 mobile clinics across 21 states, reaching more than 5,000 villages every week.

Each mobile clinic is staffed by a doctor, driver and pharmacist and provides primary healthcare services directly within communities.

The model covers multiple stages of basic healthcare delivery, including awareness, diagnosis, treatment and referral.

Since the programme began, the Foundation says it has provided free primary healthcare to more than 50 million people.

The organisation has around 800 employees, whom it refers to as its "warriors", reflecting the Foundation's emphasis on the commitment required to work in underserved communities.

CSR as a Complement to Public Healthcare

The scale and complexity of India's healthcare requirements mean that no single stakeholder can address every need.

Dr Khorakiwala sees CSR as an important complementary force within the healthcare ecosystem.

"Every drop makes an ocean," he says, emphasising that CSR initiatives can collectively contribute to addressing gaps in healthcare delivery.

While the government remains central to public healthcare, CSR can support and supplement government programmes through targeted interventions and additional resources.

Across the sector, companies are already supporting a range of healthcare initiatives, including mobile clinics, ambulances, fixed healthcare centres, hospital equipment, sanitation programmes and nutrition interventions.

From Individual Projects to Community Solutions

For CSR programmes to create meaningful impact, implementation is as important as programme design.

Dr Khorakiwala emphasises that initiatives need to begin with an understanding of the community's requirements and then be structured to address those needs.

The implementation itself needs to be effective.

According to him, "excellence should be the benchmark of implementation."

This perspective is particularly relevant for community healthcare programmes, where the difference between a short-term intervention and a sustained service can depend on execution at the ground level.

Integrating Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Referral

The Foundation's mobile healthcare model goes beyond providing medicines.

The mobile clinics undertake preventive and diagnostic activities, create health awareness, provide treatment and refer patients to community health centres or higher-level hospitals when their conditions require care beyond the capabilities of the mobile unit.

The model also addresses aspects of women's and children's health.

This integrated approach recognises that primary healthcare often serves as the first point of contact between underserved communities and the formal healthcare system.

Maternal and Child Health

Nutrition and anaemia remain important components of community health interventions.

As part of its maternal and child healthcare activities, the Foundation provides anaemia testing and iron tablets.

For children experiencing malnutrition, the programme provides nutritional support, including nutrition sachets.

Such interventions combine screening and treatment with a broader focus on nutrition awareness and preventive healthcare.

Prevention Begins With Awareness

Preventive healthcare remains closely linked to health literacy.

Dr Khorakiwala believes that awareness is the first step towards prevention. Communities need to understand health risks and know what preventive measures can be taken before conditions become more serious.

This makes health education an important component of mobile healthcare outreach.

Rather than separating awareness from medical services, integrating health education into routine community visits can help create greater understanding around prevention and timely healthcare seeking.

Technology's Growing Role in Healthcare

Technology is becoming increasingly relevant to healthcare delivery, including community and chronic disease management.

Dr Khorakiwala points to live reporting and monitoring as areas where technology can strengthen healthcare operations.

He also highlights developments in diabetes management, where wearable sensors can continuously monitor glucose levels and reduce the need for repeated finger-prick testing.

Technology is also transforming specialist healthcare, with robotic systems being used in surgical procedures.

At the same time, the rapid development of healthcare technologies means organisations need to understand where technology genuinely improves care and how it can be integrated into existing healthcare workflows.

The Reality of Working at the Ground Level

Delivering healthcare in remote and underserved communities comes with operational challenges that are different from those encountered within conventional healthcare facilities.

Foundation teams can face difficult weather conditions, challenging physical environments and patients who may be difficult to engage.

Mobilising communities to access mobile clinics can also require local coordination. In some villages, the involvement of local leaders and community representatives can influence how effectively healthcare teams are able to conduct their activities.

For frontline workers, the ability to navigate these circumstances becomes an important part of community healthcare delivery.

Measuring Impact Beyond Reach

For large-scale healthcare outreach programmes, the number of beneficiaries reached remains an important metric.

The Foundation considers beneficiary reach one of the ways to measure the scale of its impact.

However, community healthcare programmes also raise a broader question: how should organisations measure the difference they create beyond the number of consultations or beneficiaries?

The answer increasingly involves looking at whether programmes are addressing genuine community needs, whether services are being delivered consistently and whether interventions are contributing to prevention, early diagnosis, appropriate treatment and referral.

Building More Self-Reliant Communities

The experience of Wockhardt Foundation illustrates the operational complexity involved in taking primary healthcare beyond conventional healthcare facilities.

Mobile clinics can reduce access barriers. CSR can supplement public healthcare programmes. Awareness can strengthen prevention. Technology can improve monitoring and service delivery. And referral systems can connect primary healthcare with higher levels of care.

Together, these components can create a more integrated model of community healthcare.

For India's healthcare and CSR ecosystem, the challenge ahead is not simply to reach more people, but to develop programmes that are needs-driven, consistently implemented and capable of creating measurable and sustained community impact.