Indus Valley Times

On World Health Day, the company organized mega health camps and awareness sessions in the regions where it operates

By Dr.Rama Chandra Behera

Bhubaneswar, April 7 :Community health interventions of Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, have benefitted over 2.5 lakh people in Odisha & Chhattisgarh in FY23. On World Health Day, the company conducted a mega health camp at Vedanta Hospital, Lanjigarh (in Kalahandi, Odisha), which saw participation of more than 750 people including community, employees and business partners. Similarly, at Jharsuguda, where the company runs its mega aluminium smelter, awareness camps were conducted in local villages with the theme of “Health for All” covering a wide range of topics like malnutrition, balanced diet, good health & hygiene practices, and various types of diseases. BALCO has also undertaken a 4-day long campaign for mothers and pregnant women which includes HB Testing, doctor consultation, medicine distribution and awareness sessions on Maternal Child health & Nutrition (MCHN), along with organizing a multi-speciality health camp benefitting over 150 people from remotest locations of Korba district.

Vedanta Aluminium provides a wide range of basic and specialized health services to the underserved communities in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, both within and around its operational areas. The company’s health initiatives, which augment the healthcare facilities offered by the states in these regions, include:

 • Vedanta BALCO Medical Centre, Naya Raipur: The BALCO Medical Centre in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, is amongst the best cancer hospitals in India, offering advanced medical care facilities, renowned oncologists, compassionate care to patients, advanced research and network of other leading cancer hospitals in the country.

• Vedanta Hospital, Lanjigarh:Equipped with doctors, physiotherapists, visiting specialists, and a 24X7 ambulance service for referrals, the hospital sees over 60,000 patients every year. Through awareness campaigns and free-of-cost health services, the company has helped decrease the prevalence of malaria in Kalahandi.

•  BALCO Hospital, Korba: A 75-bed super specialty hospital equipped with 24X7 emergency service, Intensive and Coronary Care Units, Neonatal ICUs, and other high-end healthcare facilities, that also operates mobile medical units for nearby villages, and more. The BALCO Hospital treats around 2 lakh patients annually, making it a major destination for quality healthcare in the region.

• Nand Ghars: Throughits Nand Ghars, which are ultra-modern anganwadis that act as centres of women & child development, Vedanta Aluminium provides quality healthcare and proper nutrition to small children, pregnant women and new mothers.

• Nayi Kiran, menstrual health program: At Chhattisgarh, the company’s Nayi Kiran project creates awareness on menstrual health & hygiene, builds capacity on manufacturing of sanitary products, and develops local champions of menstrual health. Today, the project has capacitated more than 400 community members as torchbearers-cum-leaders of change in the community.

• Mobile Health Units:The communities in Vedanta Aluminium’s operational vicinity often live in areas that are hard to reach, or far off from government healthcare facilities. To cater to them, Vedanta Aluminium operates Mobile Health Units that provide doorstep primary healthcare services to these communities every week of the year, as per a pre-determined schedule.

• Rural Health Posts: Under ‘Arogya Project’, BALCO is providing quality primary health care services through Rural Health Posts, benefiting thousands of people hailing from the neighbouring communities.

• Mega health camps: The company conducts mega health camps in remote regions which have limited access and resources to avail quality healthcare on need. Vedanta Aluminium’s doctors, specialists in medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, etc., paramedical staffand employee volunteers come together to benefit hundreds of people from local communities through these free-of-cost and high-quality health camps.

• Awareness programs: All business units of Vedanta Aluminium conduct regular awareness sessions in their respective areas of operation on general health and hygiene, nutrition, menstrual health,seasonal diseases, malaria, hepatitis, HIV-AIDS, etc. for repeat sensitisation of the fact that prevention is better than cure.

• Sanitation drives: The company also organises cleanliness & sanitation drives in the local communities, where employee volunteers work with the local populace to clean drains & streets and disinfect them to avoid breakouts of diseases like malaria, dengue, etc.

Reiterating Vedanta Aluminium’s commitment to ‘Health for All’, the theme of this year’s World Health Day, Mr. Rahul Sharma, CEO –Aluminium Business, Vedanta Ltd., said, “Healthy societies are the backbone of sustainable development, where local communities are empowered participants in their own progress. Vedanta Aluminium’s unwavering commitment to the health of our employees and local communities is an outcome of our culture of care. The improvement in the local quality of life owing to our healthcare initiatives bolsters our determination to create a stronger, healthier society, as we continue to fuel India’s self-reliance in aluminium, the metal of the future.”

Dr Girish Chandra Rout, CDM & PHO, Kalahandi district, on the health initiative shared his thought saying, “Vedanta Lanjigarh has truly done remarkable work towards community wellbeing by providing free of cost healthcare benefits. The health camp initiative has made sure that they trickle down the healthcare benefits to people who can’t access the Vedanta Hospital easily. I would like to encourage Vedanta to contribute further to the development of healthcare facilities in Kalahandi and continue with this noble cause.”

Mr. Shivraj Singh Kanwar- Sarpanch, Chuiya Village,praised the health initiatives saying, “People of Chuiya have benefited from the Rural Health Post facilitated by BALCO. People from the neighboring villages also have benefited health facilities of this center. The center has good doctors and health facilities, and we appreciate BALCO for administering this center which has proven substantially beneficial to us”