By Vijay Kapur & Enakshi Sengupta
True to saying – Health is Wealth. Wockhardt Foundation aims and truly believes that a healthy population can bring about the social and economic prosperity of our nation. Wockhardt Foundation pioneers the movement of social development via provision of basic health care in slums, shanties and remote interiors of the nation. Being a not for profit organization Wockhardt Foundation is a movement of Social Awakening, Social Development and Human Values. The Mission of Wockhardt Foundation is to work towards and fight for the upliftment of the poor, weak and needy and to spread human values.
India CSR Network editorial board members Vijay Kapur & Enakshi Sengupta in conversation with Wockhardt Foundation CEO-Huzaifa Khorakiwala on his new project. Below is a verbatim transcript of the interview:
Mr Khorakiwala, we would like to first congratulate you on the commendable work being done by Wockhardt Foundation, could you kindly tell us about your new project?
Thank you. It has been our endeavour to bring good health care system to the poor and the needy. In line with our other projects our new project is an effort to revolutionize the healthcare system in rural Logo of Wockhardt Foundation India.
Could you elaborate a little more about this project?
Rural healthcare is a big need in India. We are in the process of implementing a scalable model that is professionally managed and is credible and transparent in nature.
Why did you choose rural India?
We have conducted an in-depth study which showed that rural health care centers suffer from shortage of trained staff. 8% of primary healthcare centers do not have doctors, 39% of primary health care centers do not have lab technicians and 18% of them do not have a pharmacist. We have seen in our study that 75% of graduate doctors live in urban areas serving only 28% of the population in India.
How have you come to this conclusion? Please elaborate on the survey that you had undertaken.
We have surveyed 50 districts in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Out of them 40 districts have schools near to the health care centers. We have seen that people are ready to give 100% support to our project.
How do you plan to implement this project?
We have four pillars of implementation. They are hardware, software, track & trace and community. We intend to have mobile health vans reaching every corner of rural India.
What is this hardware and software?
The hardware will comprise of the mobile health van, equipment, medicines and consumables. Every van will have antibiotics, pain killers, vitamins, anti allergic medicines etc. It will be fully equipped with a stet scope, BP machine, nebulizer, oxygen cylinder, splints etc. The vans will also have a GPS tracking system installed in them. The software is the man power which would comprise of MBBS doctors and the driver. We would be selecting the man power, training and deploying them and monitoring their activities.
Could you elaborate on the other two pillars of track& trace and community?
Our logistics will be implemented through a micro fleet management system. It is a revolutionary method to deliver health care to rural India. It uses scientific route planning, real time location with a proper control and monitoring system. Our mission is to “win the hearts” of the rural community with professional health care delivery through sensitivity and love.
What kind of benefits do you intend to provide to the rural community?
We will be having free medical check ups with free distribution of medicines. We intend to create awareness on AIDS, diabetes etc. We will be giving family planning advice, primary gynac care, pre and post natal care. The van will have provision for check up on arthritis, cardiac diseases and cancer. There will be free distribution of iron and calcium tablets, supplements and de -worming tablets. We will conduct regular follow up of patients and also provide referrals to local hospitals.
How do you plan to roll out this programme?
Talks are on with various PSU’s and corporate bodies to sponsor the vans as a part of their corporate social responsibility. We intend to begin the project by Jan 2011.
How would you ensure quality control in this project?
By October 2011 we plan to have ISO 9000:2700 certification for this project. At the same time we will ensure stringent quality control measures as adopted by Wockhardt.
Thank you Mr. Khorakiwala for the useful insight and we wish your project the very best.
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