A health project 'Niramaya - The SRK-Kalam Health Project - India's First Population Health Study' by SRK Knowledge Foundation has been released in the interest of the people and has the distinction of being the first private initiative for a public cause.

'Niramaya' in Sanskrit means 'Free from ailments, illness'. The pilot phase of the project report was launched by Shri Kailash Satyarthi, Founder 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan', Shri Kiran Kumar, Former Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Prof. Arun Tiwari, Associate of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Former President of India and Shri Govind Dholakia, Chairman, SRKKF on 29th May 2018 at Science Centre, Surat in the presence of individuals of various fields.

Initiated to commemorate the visit of the erstwhile President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at SRK Empire, Surat, in 2013, the project is aimed at developing a model to address the healthcare problems faced by the rural populace as envisioned by Dr. Kalam. As part of the project, physical check-up and laboratory investigations, along with the health parameters of more than 1,12,000 people was carried out in Lathi, Liliya and Babra Talukas in Amreli District of Gujarat.

The first phase of Niramaya, articulates upon concepts improving the patient experience of care including quality and satisfaction and improving the health of populations. Mentor Prof. Arun Tiwari affirmed that this project will prove for greater societal benefit. For the first time, more than 1,12,000 people have been approached in their dwellings and an attempt has been made to understand the social determinants of health. There is a growing awareness that upstream health can indeed save wastage of working days on account of disability and mitigate the economic hardships of the already poor people. Such a study indeed paves the way in this direction.

The findings of the report would be instrumental in:

• Undertaking a first of its kind population health study in India, encompassing socio-economic profiling, primary medical examination, and diagnostics.
• Providing treatment and medical/nursing assistance to the needy and organizing referral and linkages for further treatment, when required.
• Creating a cloud-based database for analysis and derivation of health indicators and live feeds using point-of-care devices into the population health platform, for further expansion of the project to larger populations.
• Making a nationwide impact, as SRKKF has aligned itself to work on UN SDG Goal 3.
• Probable replication on a larger scale in other developing countries too.

"The right medicine addresses not only the disease, but also the healthy way of living. The study indeed confirms that physical inactivity is a major health crisis and a large-scale pandemic," concluded Dr. B Soma Raju, Cardiologist and Chairman, Care Hospitals.

The report will be shared with the medical research institutions, various embassies in India, India's leading hospitals, state and central health authorities. It will also be available in a public domain. The title of the study 'NIRAMAYA' has been taken from a shloka of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.14), meaning 'Healthy People'.