Dr. Saarthak Bakshi’s Journey to Transform Fertility Care
Long before Dr. Saarthak Bakshi stepped into boardrooms, hospitals, or global forums, his journey began quietly at home. Raised in a family where medicine was not just a profession but a way of life, he grew up watching both his parents dedicate themselves to healing others. But it was his mother’s journey which left an indelible mark on him.
He watched her build Risaa IVF from the ground up—working late into the night, standing beside couples at their most vulnerable, and challenging the deeply rooted stigma surrounding infertility. Saarthak saw fear walk into the clinic every day. He also saw hope leave it. Those moments—when couples finally held the possibility of parenthood—taught him that healthcare is far more than diagnosis and treatment. It is about restoring dignity, rebuilding belief, and creating futures where despair once stood. That understanding became his compass.
His own turning point came during his time at Adiva, a women-centric hospital, where he witnessed how infertility silently reshaped lives—not just medically, but emotionally and socially. The weight women carried, often alone, deeply moved him. It was then that Saarthak made a quiet but firm decision: his life’s work would be dedicated to transforming reproductive healthcare in India.
As CEO of Risaa IVF, he translated inspiration into action. Under his leadership, the organisation evolved into a patient-first, ethical, and transparent fertility care system—one where every couple, regardless of background, felt heard, respected, and supported. Compassion was not an add-on; it was the foundation. But his vision did not stop at clinic walls.
His commitment to social impact grew stronger with time. Through Ropan, he helped design a doorstep-care model where trained community women—Ropan Sakhis—deliver screenings, follow-ups, and health guidance directly to households. This model didn’t just improve preventive care; it empowered women with sustainable livelihoods and a sense of purpose.
With Upkaar Welfare Trust, Saarthak worked on women’s empowerment at the grassroots—through menstrual hygiene awareness, vocational training, education support, and nutrition programs. And through the Lending Hands Foundation, he expanded impact further with mobile health camps, youth skill-building initiatives, community wellness drives, and environmental health projects—strengthening public health where it was needed most.
Across these initiatives, more than 50,000 patients and countless families have been touched. Yet, the driving force has remained unchanged: break stigma, expand access, and replace fear with hope.
One of the most defining challenges of his career arrived in 2019, during an outreach visit in rural Rajasthan. There, Saarthak met a young woman who had been isolated by her in-laws due to infertility—despite never having undergone a medical evaluation. That moment was jarring. It revealed a harsh truth: in many communities, infertility was not just a health concern, but a social sentence imposed on women.
Traditional clinic-based healthcare could not reach her—or thousands like her. Distance, cost, and cultural pressure kept care out of reach. Saarthak realised the problem was not only medical; it was structural.
From that realisation was born Fertility on Wheels (FoW)—India’s first mobile fertility clinic. Building it was anything but easy. Ensuring medical safety inside a mobile unit, managing logistics in remote regions, gaining community trust, and securing funding for entirely free services tested every ounce of his resilience.
He assembled a multidisciplinary team—doctors, counsellors, social workers, pharmacists, and public health experts. High-need regions were mapped, vans were equipped with diagnostic tools, and partnerships were forged with local NGOs and health departments. To confront stigma head-on, every unit included a female counsellor who conducted awareness sessions before medical care began. Trust came first. Treatment followed.
The impact was transformative. In the first year alone, FoW reached over 10,000 individuals. Today, more than 30,000 families across 15+ cities have benefited. The Rajasthan government partnered with the initiative across seven districts, and the model is now being prepared for expansion into Nepal and parts of Africa.
This journey reshaped Saarthak’s understanding of innovation. True healthcare transformation, he learned, is not always about advanced technology—it is about redesigning care so empathy, dignity, and access reach the very last mile.
Challenges continued to emerge—especially the gap between healthcare availability and real accessibility. Advanced treatments existed, yet awareness, affordability, and guidance remained out of reach for many. At Risaa IVF, he addressed this by building transparent pathways, prioritising counselling, and investing in community education so couples felt safe seeking help.
In rural healthcare, the challenge was continuity of care. Through Ropan’s value-based model, integrating micro-insurance and financial literacy ensured long-term impact. With Upkaar Welfare Trust, sustained engagement helped overcome deeply ingrained barriers around menstrual health and education. At Lending Hands Foundation, limited infrastructure was addressed through Health ATMs, preventive camps, and cross-sector collaborations.
Through every obstacle, Saarthak’s approach stayed consistent: innovate, involve the community, and lead with compassion.
His work has been recognised nationally and internationally. Being honoured with Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, Entrepreneur 35 Under 35, Business World 40 Under 40, AsiaOne 40 Under 40, and multiple other accolades affirmed that his mission was creating real, measurable change. Representing India on global platforms as a TEDx speaker and at the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance allowed him to amplify conversations around stigma-free reproductive health.
Under his leadership, Risaa IVF has received prestigious honours including IVF Chain of the Year 2025, Startup of the Year 2017, and 100 Most Impactful Healthcare Leaders, among others. Yet, for Saarthak, awards are not the destination—they are milestones along a much larger journey.
Looking ahead, his vision is bold and deeply human. He aims to build reproductive healthcare models that are ethical, accessible, and technologically advanced—across India and globally. Expanding outreach-based fertility services in South Asia and Africa, integrating AI-driven diagnostics and remote monitoring, strengthening training for healthcare professionals, and advocating policy reforms to make fertility care inclusive and stigma-free are all part of his roadmap.
At its heart, his mission is simple yet powerful: to build a global ecosystem where reproductive healthcare is guided by empathy as much as innovation—where no couple feels judged, isolated, or left behind.
Because for Dr. Saarthak Bakshi, healthcare has always been about one thing above all else: giving hope a way forward.