The Beginning: Gujarat's Frontline
Dr. Hemant L. Patel began his career where public health matters most — on the ground. As Municipal Health Officer in Kalol, Gandhinagar, he led urban public health governance, epidemic control, sanitation, and National Urban Health Mission implementation for the city.
Under his leadership, Kalol achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) certification and earned the 34th national ranking and 4th Gujarat ranking under the Swachh Bharat Mission. He designed epidemic-prevention systems based on local disease trends, led high-performing family planning initiatives recognized by the district administration, and supported the introduction of new vaccines including Pentavalent, MR-2, and IPV.
WHO Sitamarhi: Surveillance That Saved Lives
In December 2017, Dr. Patel joined the World Health Organization as Surveillance Medical Officer in Sitamarhi — one of India's Aspirational Districts. His work here would demonstrate the life-saving power of systematic data.
He strengthened surveillance systems that identified 30+ measles outbreaks (20+ lab-confirmed) from a zero-detection baseline — an achievement that fundamentally shifted Sitamarhi from outbreak-based to case-based surveillance, supporting national measles elimination goals.
He prepared the Health Action Plan for Sitamarhi Aspirational District presented to the Government of India, and led the extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan achieving one of the highest child immunization numbers in the state and nation. He also supported the introduction of new vaccines — PCV, Rotavirus, JE, and MR — during major campaigns despite elections, exams, and human resource constraints.
Bihar COVID-19 Maha-Abhiyan: 33 Lakh Vaccinations in One Day
When COVID-19 struck, Dr. Patel was serving on the Bihar State CORE Team for COVID-19 surveillance and vaccination through CARE India. He provided chief-of-staff-style support to senior leadership — managing daily and weekly reviews, operational briefs, dashboards, action tracking, partner alignment, and escalation across governance rhythms.
The result was historic: Bihar achieved 33+ lakh vaccinations in a single day — the highest in India. Dr. Patel was felicitated by the Health Minister of Bihar for this achievement.
His vaccine distribution analytics and digital reporting systems — including dashboards, chatbot workflows, and EHR-linked tools — reduced district-level coverage variation from ±20% to approximately 5%, enabling more equitable access across the state.
Gujarat's Chitta Express: Last-Mile Innovation That Won a National Award
Dr. Patel designed and operationalized the Chitta/Cheetah Bike Express and Sanjeevani Express — last-mile delivery models that brought healthcare to hard-to-reach populations in Gujarat's tribal and remote areas.
The models were adopted by the Government of Gujarat and replicated across districts. The innovation earned the SKOCH Gold Award and was featured as a case study at IIM Raipur — recognition of a model that proved last-mile healthcare delivery doesn't have to be expensive or complex to work.
Dr. Patel's approach was grounded in data: analytics-driven dashboards that visualized coverage gaps in real time, enabling rapid course-correction and ensuring no community was left behind.
CARE India: Multi-State Expansion Across 11 States
At CARE India, Dr. Patel provided backend support to 11 states and took leadership roles in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, and Gujarat. His skill was converting concepts into government-supported implementation pathways — bridging the gap between program design and what actually works on the ground.
He also led Teekanama, a monthly immunization knowledge product curating state progress, best practices, and implementation learnings for government and partner stakeholders.
As Head of Immunization Division, he represented CARE India in national and state coordination forums with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, National Health Mission, WHO, UNICEF, and the State Health Society Bihar.
Digital Health & AI: Building for Scale
Recognizing the power of technology to transform public health, Dr. Patel founded Sankhyank Tech Solutions — a health-tech venture delivering digital public health tools, analytics platforms, AI-enabled workflows, and data transformation solutions for government and NGO decision-making.
His digital health work includes dashboards, automated reporting, cloud-based reporting systems, Meta/Facebook-linked COVID-19 vaccination chatbot workflows, and ABDM-aligned tool development. He coordinated AI-enabled production of 100+ minutes of frontline health worker training content under a World Bank-funded Gujarat project.
At WISH Foundation, he led program strategy and digital health initiatives, guiding ABDM-aligned tool development for scalable implementation.
International Recognition
Dr. Patel was a speaker at Biologistics World Asia 2021, presenting on COVID-19 vaccine rollout, cold chain management, and immunization supply chains — sharing lessons from India's vaccination experience with an international audience.
Why This Matters for CSR
Causewave was founded on the belief that CSR programs should deliver both compliance and real community impact. Dr. Patel's 18+ years across WHO, CARE India, Government of Gujarat, and health-tech entrepreneurship mean Causewave doesn't just advise — it implements. The same rigor that reduced vaccination coverage gaps from ±20% to 5%, that detected 30+ outbreaks from zero, that scaled a bike-based healthcare model to a national award — that's the expertise behind every CSR engagement.
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