Vedanta Aluminium boosts national effort to eliminate tuberculosis, conducts awareness drives
17th April 2023
- Units in Jharsuguda and Lanjigarh have been recognised as Ni-kshay Mitra partners
Jharsuguda, Odisha; 17th April, 2023: Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, recently concluded a series of awareness drives on tuberculosis (TB) in Jharsuguda, reaching out to more than 3,500 residents across 13 villages. Organised in observance of World Tuberculosis Day, under the theme ‘Yes, we can end TB’, the company’s Mobile Health Units (MHUs) conducted informative sessions on TB, such as causative pathogens, testing, medication and treatment, diet plans, and government facilities available to those affected. The team also distributed Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials as a ready reckoner for the local communities on TB and its treatment.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s clarion call for a ‘TB Mukt Bharat’, the company has also pledged its support towards the Ni-kshay Mitra program in Jharsuguda. The Ni-kshay Mitra program is a Government of India initiative to eliminate TB from the country by 2025. It focuses on reducing the stigma around tuberculosis by urging citizens to engage with and support tuberculosis patients. Vedanta has pledged to provide nutritional and treatment support to over 350 TB patients in the district, from December 2022 to May 2023.
Vedanta’s Lanjigarh unit in Kalahandi district has also extended its support to the Ni-kshay Mitra program, pledging to distribute nutritional food boxes to over 150 patients from across 45 gram panchayats in Lanjigarh, Kesinga and Norla blocks. The company will provide them with regular nutritional support, contributing towards eradicating TB in these locations. The nutrition box contains eggs, pulses, rice and nutritional supplements that aid in recovery from TB. BALCO, India’s iconic aluminium producer and a unit of Vedanta Aluminium based in Korba, Chhattisgarh, has also contributed to the national effort, organizing an awareness session inside its plant premises for all employees on World Tuberculosis Day recently.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sunil Gupta, CEO – Vedanta Jharsuguda, said, “Through this week-long program, we aim to maximise community awareness and dispel the stigma associated with tuberculosis. Community health is an important pillar of our social endeavours, and we have deployed initiatives such as Mobile Health Units for door-to-door service, health camps, and an upcoming Pathology Lab & Diagnostic Centre, to help improve the quality of life in the region. Beyond health, we are also working in the areas of sustainable livelihood, quality education, skill development, women’s empowerment and community infrastructure, to bring about socio-economic transformation in the lives of local communities.”
Speaking about the health initiatives at Vedanta Lanjigarh, Mr. GG Pal, Dy-CEO, Vedanta Alumina Business said, “Vedanta Lanjigarh prioritises sustainable advancement, which envisions community progress along with organizational growth. Our health initiatives are specifically targeted towards the wellbeing of the community. The multi-speciality Vedanta Hospital at Lanjigarh was the first-of-its-kind in this region and has been providing free of cost treatment to all the members of the community for over a decade. We are committed to supporting the continued success of the Ni-kshay Mitra program for a TB Mukt Bharat.
Mr. Bhujraj Patel, an attendee at the company’s awareness program in Jharsuguda, said, “We had always assumed that TB was an incurable disease, with the treatment being prohibitively expensive. Through the awareness program, we got to learn that timely intervention and proper care can help cure this disease completely. I thank Vedanta for conducting the program in our village.”
Vedanta Aluminium provides a wide spectrum of basic and specialized health services in and around its areas of operations, including:
- Mobile Health Units: The company operates Mobile Health Units in its areas of operation, providing basic doorstep healthcare services, as per a pre-determined schedule, to more than 54,000 people annually in remote villages across Jharsuguda and over 22000 patients from over 65 villages in Kalahandi district.
- Nand Ghars: Through its Nand Ghars, which are modernized anganwadis that act as centres of women & child development, Vedanta Aluminium provides quality healthcare and proper nutrition to young children, pregnant women, and new mothers.
- Health camps: The company regularly conducts mega health camps in Jharsuguda and Lanjigarh with the assistance of medical personnel from government hospitals, providing free-of-cost, quality healthcare in remote parts of Odisha. The health camp initiative in Lanjigarh had more than 4000 unique beneficiaries in FY23 alone.
- Sanitation drives: To promote health and hygiene in the community, the company also organises cleanliness & sanitation drives where hygiene practices like handwashing are promoted. Moreover, employee volunteers work with the local populace to clean and disinfect drains & streets to help prevent infectious diseases.
- Vedanta Hospital, Lanjigarh: The Vedanta Hospital at Lanjigarh provides free of cost medical facilities to over 60,000 people across the communities annually.
- Cataract Surgeries: Our operations at Lanjigarh provide cataract surgeries to needy people helping over 220 people attain improved vision in FY23
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.29 million tonnes in FY23. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 2nd in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) 2022 world rankings for aluminium industry, a reflection of its sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
About Vedanta Limited:
Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals company with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa and Namibia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation building. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and environment. Vedanta has put in place a comprehensive framework to be the ESG leader in the natural resources sector. Vedanta is committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner and has pledged $5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate the transition to net zero operations. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta, which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company’s flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars, have been set up as model anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. Under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the umbrella entity for Vedanta’s social initiatives, the Vedanta group has pledged Rs 5000 crore over the next five years on social impact programmes with a thrust on nutrition, women & child development, healthcare, animal welfare, and grass-root level sports. Vedanta and the group companies have been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and was conferred Frost & Sullivan Sustainability Awards 2020, Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance 2022 and certified as a Great Place to Work 2022. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.
For more information, please visit www.vedantalimited.com
About Vedanta Aluminium Business:
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.37 million tonnes in FY24. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 1st in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 world rankings for the aluminium industry, a reflection of its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.
For more information, please log on to www.vedantaaluminium.com
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