MUMBAI: To celebrate India’s first National Health Check-up Day, instituted by the Times of India in association with Healthians, people across seven major Indian cities got free health check-ups to educate them about the importance of periodic check-ups.
As a part of the observations, TOI and Healthians instated a total of 11 checkup camps across seven major locations – Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Thane, and Noida. The activity looked to impact and enable more than 500 families to consider preventive healthcare measures.
As of now, only 9.6 per cent of the overall healthcare expenditure goes towards preventive healthcare. The National Health Check-up Day is a constituent of the Healthy India Fit India (HiFi) movement organised, a joint undertaking by TOI and Healthians, that aims to encourage people to adopt preventive healthcare as a lifestyle choice to help them avoid significant repercussions to their health and wallets.
Speaking on the initiative, Healthians founder and CEO Deepak Sahni said, "The idea of dedicating a day for health stemmed from the behavior of millennials, both men and women in the age group of 29-40 years. They are so busy in their careers and improving the quality of their lives, that health is often ignored. It’s only when they cross a certain life stage, or when someone close suffers a health problem they realise what they have lost in terms of health. We want people to realise that before it’s too late, their health needs their attention to be able to avoid illnesses.”
The HiFi initiative was commenced with a pilot campaign that saw over 3 lakh people from across the country pledging to undertake health check-ups on 1 December, signifying its impact on raising awareness about healthcare.
Multiple celebrities including famous Indian boxers Mary Kom and Vijender Singh, cricketer Sushma Verma, Table Tennis player Manika Batra, Bollywood actresses Sameera Reddy, Chavvi Mittal, and Nisha Rawal had also pledged to undertake health check-ups to celebrate the National Health Checkup Day.
Times Internet COO Puneet Gupt said, “We firmly believe in supporting causes with initiatives that truly matter. Observing an annual National Health Day is a part of our mission to help India grow stronger by enabling every Indian to pledge for a healthier version of themselves through preventive health checkups. We are excited to partner with Healthians to be a part of this journey to call for a healthier and happier India.”
