The Rotary clubs in India, which are disheartened at the tardy progress their global grant applications sent to RI seem to be making, need to get some guidance from RI District 3132 PDG Swati Herkal, who is also the DRFC for her district from 2025–28.
In March 2025, she got a call from a distressed doctor at the Civil Hospital in Satara, the city in Maharashtra where she lives, that increasingly, more and more parents were being forced to take their prematurely born babies to hospitals in Pune, over two hours drive away, and even Mumbai, because the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Civil Hospital was stretched beyond capacity.
“From the conversation and her desperate tone, I could judge that a silent crisis was growing in this region. Fragile lives born too soon or too small were being referred to far-off cities, costing precious time and causing trauma to the parents. These premature babies were crying out for help from civil society,” says Swati, whose home club RC Wai has already completed 14 global grant projects.
A group of female Rotarians and Anns from our club got together and contributed ₹61,000 towards this project. The sum might be small, but they were keen to help a cause that would save tiny lives.
— PDG Swati Herkal
She started immediately conceiving a project to help boost the survival of these babies in their own hometown. When she approached Dr Ujjvala Chidrawar, a member of RC Wellbeing International, UK, asking for suggestions about an international partner club with which RC Wai could do a global grant to reach critical survival equipment for the premature babies at this government hospital, “she said ‘we would like to be your partners. After all, ours is a cause-based club with the word ‘wellness’ in our name!’”
This UK doctor’s husband Dr Mukund Chidrawar, was Swati’s batchmate governor, and previously her club — RC Wai — had partnered with him to do a global grant to get a van for cancer screening and awareness. By now an expert at writing global grant applications/proposals (“all the 14 proposals for the GGs our club has done were written by me,” she says), Swati quickly wrote the proposal for a global grant to be done in partnership with RI Districts 3132, 1210, 1220, 1240, 1080 and supported by The Rotary Foundation, for a project to strengthen the NICU at the Government Civil Hospital in Satara.
She says it wasn’t difficult to write that proposal as “the goal was clear: provide critical, modern and free-of-cost medical support to newborns, especially from low-income families and thus equip the NICU unit with ventilators, warmers, incubators, monitors, infusion pumps, and phototherapy units… all the critical equipment required to transform it into a state-of-the-art facility.”
The comforting thought was that no longer would families be forced to travel to Pune or Mumbai to save their precious babies — the help they needed would be just minutes away once the project was executed.
Throughout the planning phase, government officials were in constant follow-up with Swati, who is the project chair, eager to see the project materialised. But she firmly believed that for Rotary to help establish an NICU in a government hospital, certain non-negotiable conditions must be met: a clean, adequate and suitable space, qualified and experienced neonatal staff, and assurance of day-to-day use and proper maintenance of the medical equipment.
Fortunately, the Satara Civil Hospital’s dedicated team met all these requirements and this gave RC Wai the confidence to take the initiative forward. The global grant was processed and approved in less than a month. Swati, who as the DRFC, and even earlier, has helped her club write proper GG proposals, says “the trick is to write the proposal clearly, transparently, anticipate RI’s queries and answer them even before they are raised!”
At the inaugural ceremony, where RID 3132 DG Sudhir Lature, PDG Dr Omprakash Motipawale, civil surgeon Dr Yuvraj Karpe, Swati, and other Rotarians and health officials were present, Zilla Parishad CEO Yashashni Nagrajan remarked, “Rotary doesn’t just provide infrastructure; it changes lives. Their consistent follow-up and human connection with beneficiaries are what make the difference.” A grateful Dr Karpe called this project “a true community gift — one that will save countless newborns.” Added DG Lature, “Rotary can work miracles through TRF. This project is a milestone in our mission on improving maternal and child health.”
While narrating the journey, an emotional Swati who had during the past few weeks witnessed the trauma of both the parents with premature babies and the civil hospital’s NICU staff, said, “This NICU isn’t just a medical unit — it’s a gateway to life for newborns; serving in Rotary becomes more meaningful with such impactful moments.”
Swati points out that many government hospitals across India lack facilities to save the lives of premature babies of low-income parents who go through the trauma of dealing with a great loss which could have been prevented. “At this hospital, there were only 10 warmers — actually, 35 are required — and in a dire emergency when the staff were faced with the tough choice of letting a baby die, they’ve even resorted to putting two babies in a single warmer, which should not be done. But when saving a tender little life is concerned it’s a tough choice to make. With the equipment we have given, 14 more premature babies can be accommodated in this unit.”
Through this global grant, which amounted to $54,253, Rotary has provided this hospital 10 more warmers, along with ventilators, which it did not have, and other critical equipment. A special feature that “warmed the heart was that in our club there is a group of female Rotarians and Anns, and they got together and contributed ₹61,000 towards this project. The sum might be small, but they were keen to help a cause that would save tiny lives,” adds the DRFC.
All the equipment was purchased from India and the vendors have already given adequate training to the staff to use this equipment. “We have already negotiated with them to undertake the responsibility of maintaining the equipment for three years.”
A heart-touching moment
Swati recalls a poignant moment when just two days before the official inauguration, a critically ill baby was admitted to the hospital. A member of the paediatric team called her asking hesitantly: ‘Are we allowed to use the new ventilator now as this can save the baby’s life’. Without a moment’s hesitation she told her: ‘If this machine can save the baby’s life, use it immediately!’
And that’s exactly what happened — the baby became the first beneficiary of the equipment, symbolically inaugurating the NICU even before the ribbon was cut!
Talk about speed; the next day, when club members visited the NICU, all ten warmers were already in use, each cradling a tiny life. “Tears welled up in the eyes of those present — tears of compassion, satisfaction, and Rotary’s living spirit. One of the babies there was so small it could fit in the palm of a hand. Its legs were no thicker than fingers, and it lay quietly as the machine gently helped it breathe,” says the past governor.
A few days earlier, another newborn weighing just 800gm had been admitted. Now, its weight had risen to 950gm. “This transformation was made possible by the relentless dedication of the paediatric doctors and nurses and the life-saving equipment Rotary had donated. That is why we chose this particular government hospital.”
PDG Dr Motipawale said emotionally, “In all the government hospitals I’ve seen, I’ve rarely witnessed this level of cleanliness and commitment. The cooperation from the CEO and civil surgeon here is extraordinary.”
Swati thanks club members Pramod Shinde, Dr Manohar Datar, Madan Pore, Dr Jitendra Pathak, Kunal Shah (club president) and Anupam Gandhi (secretary) who extended great support. International partner Dr Ujjvala Chidrawar and her husband, PDG Dr Mukund, expressed their happiness that they could play a role in executing a project that will give “many more newborns a second chance. Working repeatedly with RC Wai has always been a rewarding experience for us.”
On request from the Zilla Parishad CEO Yashashni, RC Wai is executing another GG amounting to $37,000 in partnership with RC Milford, US, to set up a human milk bank.