S Premkumar Raja

S Premkumar Raja

Co-founder & Hony. Secretary – Nightingales Medical Trust
Secretary, Alzheimer’s & Related Disorders Society of India, Bangalore Chapter

A Social Entrepreneur based in Bangalore with over 30 years of experience in conceiving, establishing and managing various innovative community welfare and healthcare projects in different parts of the country.

After completing his MA, MPhil in Demography from Annamalai University, he started his career in 1987 in the Mewat region of Haryana. His first assignment was to develop a community based rural mobile medical programme for promoting maternal and child health. By educating illiterate women to work as Village Health Workers through an innovative tool using colour and picture codes, he successfully involved the community in promoting maternal and child welfare programs significantly. This concept was much appreciated by the government and international bodies.

In 1995, while working in a hospital in Bangalore as Administrator, he along with a likeminded Doctor identified the genuine need for providing medical care at the doorstep of older persons who have difficulty in visiting hospitals. Responding to this need they started Nightingales Home Health Services in 1996. It is a unique and innovative venture and first of its kind in India.

Realising that elders are in need of emotional, social and financial support in additional to health care, he co-founded Nightingales Medical Trust (NMT) in 1998. NMT is an NGO based in Bangalore promoting various need based support systems for the wellbeing of Senior Citizens of all social economic groups and those with dementia. The projects of NMT include 100 bed Dementia residential care facility for elders, 50 bed tele-medicine enabled Dementia care facility, 70 bed home for destitute elderly women, 25 bed Dementia care facility for women, 2 Elders Enrichment Centres, Elders Helpline in association with Bangalore City Police addressing elder abuse, 5 Dementia Day Care Centres, 2 Centres for Active Ageing, 2 Mobile Active Ageing units and Jobs 60+ project to facilitate skills training and job placements for the elderly. In recognition of the services rendered by the Trust, it has been designated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the Regional Resource and Training Centre (RRTC- Age Care) for building the capacity of NGOs in age care in three Southern States. Over the years the projects of the Trust are functioning well, benefitting a large number of elders. Most of NMT’s projects are first of its kind in India. NMT is the recipient of various awards at State, National and International level.

Today NMT has established a name of its own and has become one of the leading Age Care Organizations in the Country.

Mr. Raja has travelled extensively to study age care and dementia care programs in different countries.