Access to quality healthcare in India continues to be deeply shaped by socioeconomic disparities, with life-saving treatments often remaining out of reach for the most vulnerable. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of congenital heart defects, where timely intervention can mean the difference between life and loss. As India strengthens its public health systems and leans increasingly on CSR-led interventions, the need for scalable, equitable healthcare models has never been more urgent.
In this context, Genesis Foundation has emerged as a critical enabler, building a collaborative ecosystem that connects underprivileged children to advanced cardiac care. In this conversation, Jyoti Sagar, Founder Trustee, Genesis Foundation, shares how the organisation has evolved into a nationwide force, leveraging partnerships, transparency, and early intervention to redefine access, equity, and long-term impact in paediatric healthcare across India.
Scroll down to read more:
Q. As India continues to grapple with inequities in access to quality healthcare, how does Genesis Foundation position its work within the broader landscape of public health and CSR-led interventions?
A. Genesis Foundation strategically positions itself as a vital bridge connecting available treatment for congenital heart defects with those in dire need. We address systemic barriers like late diagnosis, low awareness, and affordability through a collaborative public health model, fostering essential government-NGO-CSR partnerships. CSR acts as a critical scale enabler, ensuring transparent funding directly impacts beneficiaries. Our work extends beyond surgery to proactive early screening and awareness camps, especially in underserved regions, identifying and supporting low-income families earning ₹20,000 or less monthly. This ensures critical care reaches the most excluded, profoundly impacting health equity in India.
Q. Over the past 25 years, how has the philosophy of Genesis Foundation evolved from a deeply personal loss into a structured, nationwide mission addressing congenital heart defects among underprivileged children?
A. Our journey began with a profound personal loss in 1983, when we lost our son Sameer to a congenital heart condition. This deeply painful experience, coupled with volunteering at Missionaries of Charity, ignited our purpose. Formally established in 2001, our philosophy evolved from a simple belief – no child should die due to lack of funds – into a focused national mission. We transitioned from reactive support to a proactive approach, incorporating early screening and awareness. Building trust, transparency, and strategic CSR partnerships has strengthened our credibility, allowing us to scale sustainably and build a robust ecosystem with 25+ partner hospitals, all rooted in empathy and a commitment to every child's right to life.
Q. In a country where healthcare access is often determined by affordability, how can CSR initiatives play a more decisive role in bridging the gap between medical need and financial capability for critical illnesses like congenital heart defects?
A. CSR initiatives can play a decisive role by directly funding life-saving treatments for critical illnesses like congenital heart defects, where costs of ₹2-4 lakh per surgery make them inaccessible for low-income families. It acts as a powerful scale enabler, pooling corporate resources to address vast health burdens. Beyond funding, CSR can build structured partnerships with NGOs and hospitals, ensuring both reach and quality of care. By supporting early screening and awareness programs, it helps reduce costlier, riskier late-stage cases. Ultimately, CSR has the transformative potential to ensure critical care access is determined by need, not income.
Q. Genesis Foundation’s work sits at the intersection of healthcare, equity, and child welfare. How do you ensure that your interventions go beyond treatment to create long-term, life-altering impact for both children and their families?
A. Our interventions create long-term, life-altering impact by extending beyond the operating theatre. We define success by the transformations post-surgery, continuously tracking children for up to three years. This monitoring assesses physical health, developmental milestones, school enrolment, and overall quality of life, ensuring they can attend school, play, and pursue dreams like any other child. We witness remarkable transformations: anxious families regain emotional and financial stability, and children, once debilitated, now pursue aspirations like Vaanika (name changed), who established an education foundation. This long-term engagement confirms timely intervention fosters comprehensive well-being, replacing hospital corridors with fulfilling childhoods.
Q. With partnerships spanning 25+ hospitals across more than 20 states and Union Territories, what have been the key learnings in building a collaborative, multi-stakeholder healthcare delivery model at scale?
A. Building our extensive network highlights the critical importance of standardisation, trust, and communication. Key learnings include rigorous partner selection, focusing on hospitals aligning with our mission, possessing expertise in paediatric cardiology, high success rates, and ethical practices. We employ a detailed checklist covering specialisation, success rates, and transparent operations. A robust monitoring system tracks each child's journey, from admission through three years of post-operative care, ensuring consistent quality. This meticulous approach, coupled with our 98% success rate, demonstrates that strong partnerships, shared values, and constant oversight are crucial for delivering high-quality, scalable care.
Q. The Foundation has enabled life-saving cardiac care for over 5,400+ children with an approximately 98 percent success rate. Could you share deeper insights into these outcomes and what they reveal about the quality and consistency of care across your network?
A. Our 98% success rate reflects the synergy of medical excellence and teamwork across our partner hospitals. It’s a testament to rigorous patient selection and timely intervention, ensuring optimal outcomes. We maintain stringent criteria for hospital partnerships, only collaborating with NABH-certified institutions renowned for paediatric cardiology. Our team stays in continuous contact with both hospital staff and beneficiaries, diligently monitoring care quality at every stage. This unwavering commitment ensures that every child receives the best possible medical attention, demonstrating the consistent, high-quality care delivered across our network and reinforcing our dedication to saving young lives.
Q. Funding remains a critical enabler in such interventions. Having raised over ₹80 crore through CSR, institutional, and individual donors, how do you ensure transparency, accountability, and optimal utilisation of funds, particularly with the commitment that 100 percent of individual donations go directly towards treatment?
A. Genesis Foundation prioritizes financial integrity through structured reporting and audits. We ensure that 100% of donations from individual donors are used towards the treatment of children with no allocation towards administrative costs . For CSR and institutional donors, detailed utilisation reports, statutory auditor certificates, and impact assessments are provided. Accountability is paramount: we offer detailed breakdowns of spending, timely progress reports, and robust documentation, maintaining open communication even about challenges. Funds are optimally utilised by prioritising urgent cases, disbursing directly to our 25+ partner hospitals (never intermediaries), and meticulously tracking each case from admission to discharge, ensuring maximum impact where it's needed most.
Q. Neonatal and infant cardiac care is often the most complex and resource intensive. What challenges have you encountered in supporting such high-risk cases, and how has Genesis Foundation worked with medical partners to overcome them?
A. Neonatal and infant cardiac care presents unique challenges due to its exceptional complexity and resource intensity, with 28% of our interventions in FY 2025-26 in this category. The primary hurdle is high clinical complexity, demanding extended hospital stays and multiple interventions, significantly increasing costs. We navigate this through transparent donor communication, seeking approval for additional expenses with clear medical explanations. Constant, often daily, coordination with hospitals and families ensures timely responses. Crucially, our medical partners often reduce treatment costs, embodying our shared mission. Additionally, proactive early detection via screening camps in remote regions greatly improves outcomes, reducing late-stage, high-risk presentations.
Q. Beyond medical success, stories like that of Vaanika highlight the ripple effect of your work. How do you measure and document these long-term social outcomes, and what do they indicate about the transformative potential of timely healthcare access?
A. We measure long-term social outcomes through continuous patient tracking, with our team maintaining close contact from pre-admission through three years post-surgery. We monitor key indicators like physical health, developmental milestones, school enrolment, and emotional stability of families. Our belief is that life precedes everything; without it, children miss out on normal childhoods. Stories like Dev (name changed), who dreams of being a police officer, and Vaanika (name changed), a VSD survivor who founded an education non-profit, powerfully illustrate this. Early intervention allows children to thrive, learn, and participate fully in life, transforming their futures and preventing prolonged hospitalizations. It confirms timely healthcare's profound potential to restore childhoods and enable dreams.
Q. As Genesis Foundation aligns its efforts with SDG 3 and SDG 5, what opportunities do you see for scaling impact further, and what role can the CSR ecosystem play in ensuring that no child in India is denied life-saving cardiac care due to financial constraints?
A. We identify significant scaling opportunities by aligning with SDG 3 (Good Health) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). For SDG 5, we actively counter gender disparity in healthcare, ensuring girls receive equal access to life-saving treatment, as evidenced by 54% of our beneficiaries being girls in FY 2025-26. We conduct awareness at screening camps, challenging taboos around post-surgery scars. For SDG 3, the CSR ecosystem can bolster our cause by supporting beneficiaries and advocating for widespread ground-level awareness, prenatal screenings, and early diagnosis. Investing in medical seminars to educate paediatric cardiologists can further enhance early detection. CSR is pivotal in guaranteeing financial constraints never deny a child critical cardiac care.
 1 1.png)
x
.JPG)
.png)
 (3).png)
 Limited.jpeg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
