The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, APR 7, 2023
Community health interventions of Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, have benefitted over 2.5 lakh people in Odisha and Chhattisgarh in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23).
On World Health Day, the company conducted a mega health camp at Vedanta Hospital at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi of 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 and hygiene practices, and various types of diseases.
BALCO has also undertaken a 4-day long campaign for mothers and pregnant women that include HB Testing, doctor consultation, medicine distribution and awareness sessions on Maternal Child health & Nutrition (MCHN), along with organizing a multi-specialty 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 at Naya Raipur which 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; the 75-bed super specialty BALCO Hospital at Kobra equipped with 24X7 emergency service, Intensive and Coronary Care Units, Neonatal ICUs, and other high-end healthcare facilities that treats over 2 lakh patients annually; Vedanta Hospital at Lanjigarh which treats over 60,000 patients every year; Nand Ghars, the vultra-modern anganwadis that act as centres of women & child development; and Nayi Kiran project that creates awareness on menstrual health & hygiene.
The company also operates Mobile Health Units and Rural Health Posts in its areas of operation besides awareness programmes, mega health camps and sanitation drives.
Reiterating Vedanta Aluminium’s commitment to ‘Health for All’, the theme of this year’s World Health Day, Vedanta Ltd. CEO (Aluminium Business) Rahul Sharma 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.”
“Vedanta Lanjigarh has truly done remarkable work towards community wellbeing by providing free of cost healthcare benefits. I would like to encourage Vedanta to contribute further to the development of healthcare facilities in Kalahandi and continue with this noble cause,” said Dr. Girish Chandra Rout, CDM & PHO, Kalahandi district.
Lauding Vedanta’s healthcare initiatives, Chuiya Sarpanch Shivraj Singh Kanwar said: “People of Chuiya have benefited from the Rural Health Post facilitated by BALCO. People from the neighboring villages also have benefited by the health facilities of this center. The center has good doctors and health facilities, and we appreciate BALCO for this center which has proven substantially beneficial to us.”
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.28 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.
