On a mission to make healthcare dignified and accessible for every woman.

Access to healthcare is still a privilege for many women. Not because solutions don’t exist, but because they rarely reach those who need them most. That’s exactly where HDR Healthcare Foundation, under the leadership of Dr. Hema Divakar, steps in.

Even in its early stages, the Foundation is working to close the gap between innovation and access. Its focus? Preventive care, community-based education, and wellness programs that can scale. Every effort is shaped by Dr. Hema’s core belief, that no woman should be denied quality care because of where she lives or what she can afford.

The Foundation backs real, on-ground work. Through Divakar’s Speciality Hospital and ARTIST (Asian Research and Training Institute for Skill Transfer), it drives training for frontline health workers, early screening programs, and public health awareness. These aren’t limited to city hospitals, they are designed to reach the last mile: rural clinics, low-income communities, and areas too often ignored.

Dr. Hema brings over 3 decades of experience as an obstetrician-gynecologist, but what sets her apart is how she’s translated that expertise into systems that uplift communities. Whether advising on national policy or running a camp in a remote village, she brings care where it’s most lacking.

By aligning its mission with education, healthy communities, and environmental responsibility, HDR Healthcare Foundation isn’t just treating illness. It’s building a future where healthcare is defined by access, dignity, and equity, for every woman.

A Vision Forged by Experience

Early in her medical career, Dr. Hema witnessed a young woman lose her life to undiagnosed anemia during pregnancy. That moment became a turning point, igniting her lifelong commitment to preventive healthcare. 

Years later, as she led the national rollout of emergency obstetric care training, she saw frontline healthcare providers step into their power, confidently saving lives. These experiences, grounded in both loss and progress, shaped her vision: that transforming women’s health in India starts with grassroots empowerment and a focus on prevention.

Bridging Care and Advocacy in Women’s Reproductive Health

Dr. Hema believes that managing the tension between medical best practices and the social or legal barriers women face in accessing reproductive health services in India requires a balance of empathy, dialogue, and strategic partnerships. In her clinical role, she focuses on delivering evidence-based care to individuals. 

Simultaneously, as an advocate, she works toward meaningful policy shifts, whether it’s expanding the role of community health workers or advocating for the legal use of hormonal IUDs beyond contraception. For her, bridging this complex gap also means investing in culturally sensitive education and working closely with legal and social institutions.

Fixing Rural Health Gaps with Trust and Mobility

Dr. Hema highlights distance, stigma, and lack of trust in the system as the most persistent barriers to healthcare access for women outside urban areas. To address these, she led the Women’s Wellness on Wheels project, mobile clinics that provide five-point preventive checkups directly at worksites and villages. 

By training local nurses as community champions, the initiative builds trust within the population. The integration of digital health tools ensures quality and scalability across regions.

Overcoming Resistance to Change with Data and Dialogue

Dr. Hema faced resistance from within the system, skepticism from peers, bureaucratic delays, and cultural inertia. Change, she understood, was never easy. Yet, she chose to lead with data, build coalitions, and engage stakeholders meaningfully.

One standout initiative was the ARTIST skill training program, developed in collaboration with the Health Sector Skill Council. Though it initially met with hesitation, the program’s focus on transforming women’s healthcare through skill transfer on digital platforms soon proved its impact. As outcomes became visible, it earned acceptance across both public and private institutions.

Centering Every Role Around Women’s Health

Dr. Hema maintains balance across her responsibilities as a clinician, hospital leader, and women’s health advocate by grounding every action in a single guiding principle: putting women at the center. 

Whether she is in the clinic, leading in the boardroom, or contributing to policy discussions, she ensures that the woman’s voice remains central and never gets lost. Her ability to wear multiple hats effectively is supported by a committed team and a structured approach to delegation.

Addressing the Gaps in Women’s Healthcare Access

Dr. Hema identifies urgent gaps in India’s healthcare system, particularly in preventive care, menstrual health, and respectful maternity care. At Divakar’s Speciality Hospital, she has addressed these challenges by integrating routine screenings for anemia, diabetes, and reproductive cancers into everyday checkups. 

The hospital offers low-cost wellness packages and actively collaborates with NGOs to extend services to vulnerable populations. Every protocol is designed to be patient-centric, culturally sensitive, and replicable, ensuring care reaches those who need it the most.

Translating Global Standards into Local Solutions

Dr. Hema believes in adapting global best practices without compromising their essence. When introducing the FIGO Nutrition Checklist, she ensured it was localized into Hindi and Kannada, complete with illustrations to support ASHA workers on the ground. The wheel of wellness for women is an initiative to prevent illness and promote wellness – being pilot tested in Karnataka and will soon scale up across the country

Her approach involves aligning international benchmarks with India’s diverse healthcare realities by actively involving community stakeholders, conducting small-scale pilots, and scaling efforts only after confirming their relevance in the local context.

Mentoring with Purpose

Dr. Hema believes that empathy, empowerment, and excellence are the cornerstones of effective mentorship. She approaches mentoring with the conviction that true leadership lies in creating more leaders. 

Her guiding mantra, “Think big, start small, scale fast, with the woman at the center,” shapes how she nurtures young professionals and builds dynamic healthcare teams. For Dr. Hema, the success of mentorship is not measured solely by academic milestones but by the ripple effect her mentees create and how many lives they, in turn, go on to impact.

Championing Systemic Change in Women’s Health

Dr. Hema, former President of FOGSI and current Division Director of Wellwoman Healthcare at FIGO, has consistently championed transformative changes at the policy level. Her advocacy has led to the inclusion of the HPV vaccination in national health programs and the recognition of postpartum depression as a critical maternal health issue. She has also emphasized the need for upskilling nurses to take on expanded clinical responsibilities. 

More recently, her focus has shifted towards integrating non-communicable disease (NCD) screening into reproductive health frameworks and promoting the digital registration of maternal health services. For Dr. Hema, wellness across the life course remains central, ensuring that every girl and woman transitions into each new stage of life in optimal health.

A Life Touched by Prevention and Early Detection

Dr. Hema recalls a powerful moment during one of their mobile medical camps, where a 42-year-old daily wage worker was screened for both breast and cervical cancer. The early detection of a pre-cancerous lesion played a critical role in saving the woman’s life. 

Her heartfelt gratitude served as a reminder that health equity is not just an ideal to strive for; it is a responsibility to uphold, ensuring that every woman, regardless of her background, gets a fair chance at a healthy future.

Challenging Barriers to Reproductive Rights in India

Dr. Hema highlights the legal and policy barriers that continue to hinder reproductive rights and bodily autonomy for women in India. These include restrictive interpretations of laws related to abortion and contraception, limited reproductive education for adolescents, and the persistent stigma surrounding menstrual health. 

To address these issues, she focuses on multi-level engagement, training healthcare professionals on rights-based practices, pushing for policy reform, and running awareness campaigns that involve trusted voices from within communities.

Shaping the Future of Women’s Healthcare in India

Dr. Hema believes the future of women’s healthcare in India must be preventive, personalized, and participatory. That’s exactly why she’s working with FEMTECH360, pioneering the validation and use of technology to empower women at every stage of life

Through FEMTECH360, she’s bringing futuristic tools into real-world care: piloting AI‑driven anemia diagnostics, wearable maternal‑health monitors, and comprehensive, digitized wellness dashboards.

Through the Women’s Health Network, she’s also building bridges between private and public systems, making sure women have seamless, continuous services from adolescence through menopause and beyond.

With FEMTECH360 as the hub, combining clinical expertise and digital innovation, Dr. Hema is proving that preventive, personalized, participatory care is not a pipe dream, it’s happening right now.

Championing Equity in Women’s Health Access

Dr. Hema has built location-specific outreach programs that address the unique needs of women from marginalized communities. By engaging tribal ASHA workers, translating health content into regional dialects, and partnering with women-led self-help groups, she ensures that information and care reach the most underserved. 

Her wellness camps are thoughtfully designed to accommodate construction workers and daily wage earners, ensuring that attending a health check doesn’t mean losing a day’s income. At the heart of every initiative lies a deep commitment to equity.

The Quiet Sacrifices Behind Her Mission

Dr. Hema has quietly walked a path filled with personal sacrifices, missed family milestones, long working hours, and moments of isolation while being the lone voice advocating for change. 

These choices were not easy, but each challenge only deepened her resolve to transform women’s healthcare. What continues to drive her is simple yet profound: the smile of a woman who feels heard, helped, and healed. For her, that remains the truest reward.