The Hindu Business Line : Healthy intervention

The large stretches of dry black soil with few trees tell a story of struggle and hardship. It has not rained much in the areas adjoining Indore, the seat of the Holkars; and this summer is expected to be harsh. People in the villages adjoining Dewas, a small industrial township about 35 km from Indore, sometimes have to walk miles to fetch a pot of drinking water.

It is here that Ranbaxy Laboratories has set up its state-of-the-art manufacturing unit and launched a massive healthcare initiative. It's close to noon when Dr Lata Sanyal and Dr Rizwanuddin along with other healthcare workers reach Singawada village in a mobile healthcare unit.

It seems as if the entire population has congregated under the peepal tree — children are glued to the television fitted in the mobile van showing films on health, women in veils wait for their turn with Dr Sanyal and men queue up to consult Dr Rizwanuddin.

Says Dr Rizwanuddin, "The health indicators in the village were very poor some years ago. Upper respiratory tract infection and skin disorders were highly prevalent due to poor hygienic conditions. Besides, the women had to be educated about institutionalised delivery, antenatal care, immunisation and safe motherhood."

Healthcare for all

Dr Parvinder Singh, who steered the company's tremendous growth, identified healthcare as the area of intervention based on Ranbaxy's core strengths. It was his dream to make healthcare accessible to all.

Says Malvinder Mohan Singh, his son and the company's Managing Director, "Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative began in late 1970s under the leadership of my father. Today, we are engaged in providing preventive as well as curative healthcare services to the community around our plants."

Ramesh Adige, Executive Director, Ranbaxy, says the company's CSR initiative is spread across several streams, and includes community healthcare through Ranbaxy Community Healthcare Society, "fulfilling the basic needs of the rural community around our manufacturing locations. It also encourages research for the treatment of diseases like malaria and providing high-quality drugs at affordable prices for HIV/AIDS."

Dewas is one of the sites where Ranbaxy has started its community health service. It has a team of 34 persons, including doctors, paramedical and other assistants, working in Mohali, Toansa and Beas in Punjab, Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh, and Gurgaon in Haryana covering about 95 villages. About two lakh people are covered under this service.

"To the people here, we are not just doctors. We have to work as counsellors educating and improving awareness on reproductive health, nutrition and gender balance. We also talk about HIV/AIDS at both the community and school levels, besides targeted intervention with high-risk groups like truckers," explains Dr Sanyal.

planned approach

It was also felt that a volunteer from the village would be best suited to interact with the local residents. Accordingly, Manju, who was asked to take up the task, not only talks to people about hygiene and nutrition, but also counsels young girls on adolescent health.

The Gram Samiti has also appointed Manju as an accredited social health activist (ASHA), under the Health Ministry's National Rural Health Mission.

The region has been divided into twilight zones or old service zones — where support services are being provided, and intensive zones — where the company launched its initiative only two years ago. In order to assess the benefits, a house-to-house monitoring system has been put in place.

Meenakshi Singh demonstrates how a database for the entire village of Singawada is maintained. "We record the births and deaths in each village, keep tabs on children under five years for immunisation programmes and so on," she says. And the indicators in the region seem to be only getting better.

According to a Ranbaxy spokesman, in the twilight areas there has been a reduction in birth rate from 23 per 1,000 in 1998 to 16.7 in 2006. The infant mortality rate has also come down drastically, while the maternal mortality rate in the region is nil, down from 4.5 per 1,000 live births some years ago.

In the new areas where the company stepped in recently, the number of eligible couples adopting family planning methods has moved up from 48 per cent to 61.9 per cent. More than 93.8 per cent children have been immunised, up from a base-line of 62 per cent and the percentage of malnourished kids in the 0-1 age-group has also fallen to 21.9 per cent from 36 per cent. The local administration is happy with Ranbaxy's contribution to the neighbourhood. But the real challenge is to make the villagers self-reliant.

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