Venkat Changavalli, CEO, GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI), was recently honoured with the Corporate Executive Citizen Karmaveer Puraskaar 2010 Award. EMRI is a not-for-profit organisation with a vision to respond to 30 million emergencies and save one million lives annually.

This is a national award instituted by Indian Confederation of NGOs (iCONGO) to recognise individual citizens from various sectors who have been pivotal for being and leading change.

Venkat Changavalli an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad and B Tech (Chemical) from NIT, Warangal has made outstanding contribution in the field of emergency management services, public health at the national as well as at the international level. Under his leadership, 108 services started in Hyderabad in August 2005. In less than five years, the service reached out to nine states (ie 400 million population) with 2,600 ambulances.

In five years, GVK EMRI has responded to 10 million emergencies and saved over 260,000 lives. His passion to contribute to the EM services in the nation has resulted in EMRI developing public health care infrastructure ie EM rooms in CHCs and human resources ie EM training of government doctors and nurses). His effort to ensure that EM and care services are given, free of cost, to every individual has been appreciated and written about by several leading national and international publications. His insights gained through experiential learning are now taken as recommendations in various other countries.

“I am happy that iCONGO has recognised my efforts in lighting a candle than cursing the darkness. I hope that this will motivate many corporate executives to take up career in NGO sector for improving the quality of life of poor citizens of our country,” Changavalli said.

Changavalli has received awards for his yeoman services including Pranadata Award, Microsoft Citizenship Partner of the Year Award, HEAL Leadership Award, AAEMI award for the Moral Courage Shown in Leading EMRI, to name a few.