By Samachar Vishesh News
Chandigarh 17th Dec:- In a unique first of its kind corporate
partnership, Ashok Leyland, flagship of the Hinduja Group, the second largest
commercial vehicle manufacturers in India has teamed up with leading tyre manufacturer, Apollo Tyres to
provide healthcare facility to the trucking community in Namakkal, a prominent
transhipment hub in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Healthcare
Centre at Ashok Leyland’s
Driver Training Institute at Namakkal, will be run by Apollo Tyres, and was
inaugurated today by Anuj Kathuria, Chief
Operating Officer; and Balachandar NV, President – HR, Communication and CSR,
Ashok Leyland; along with Satish Sharma, President, Asia Pacific, Middle East
& Africa; and Sunam Sarkar, President and Chief Business Officer, Apollo
Tyres.
Servicing a daily floating population
of more than 12,500 truckers, and the allied community, the primary aim of the
Healthcare Centre would be awareness generation on HIV-AIDS and prevention of
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among truckers, and the local community.
The centre will be staffed by a qualified doctor, a counsellor, and paramedics,
apart from outreach workers and a network of peer educators appointed over a
period of time. This team will work together towards bringing down the instance
of STIs, and thereby, reducing the vulnerability of the population of
contracting HIV, apart from offering a gamut of other health care service for
vision care, diabetes, hypertension, and Tuberculosis. The two companies will
be working together to establish more such healthcare centres in large
transhipment hubs.
Commenting
on the partnership, Balachander
NV, President – HR, Communication and CSR, Ashok Leyland, said that Ashok Leyland has always been at the forefront to
provide the best possible support to the driver community. As a profession,
commercial vehicle driving is a demanding job, owing to long drives, month after
month. The high level of concentration required
for driving, mostly results in stress and strain on the driver. These working
conditions, coupled with negligence towards regular care, often leads to
various health problems. To address this issue, we have collaborated with Apollo Tyres to offer the best medical support to an
important stakeholder of ours.
Commenting
on the partnership, Sunam Sarkar, President and Chief Business Officer,
Apollo Tyres said that we are delighted to join hands with Ashok Leyland to
extend this facility at Namakkal. Ashok Leyland is a fellow stakeholder in the
trucking industry and working together allows both organisations to maximise
reach and deployment of resources. Serving truckers and the allied community
will be the primary aim of this Healthcare Centre, along with awareness on
generation of HIV-AIDS and prevention of STIs among truckers and the local
community. We already have 31 similar health centres at multiple transhipment
hubs across the country to serve the community.
The new facility, Healthcare Centre,
has been created with a spacious floor space of 2500 sq. ft. The centre is
equipped with adequate diagnostic equipment, which is exclusive for the health
education of the Driving community within the Driver Training premises. A nominal registration fees of INR 20/- will enable
the driver to avail these services at any of the 31 Apollo centres across
India. The idea behind this initiative is not just to provide medical benefits,
but also to educate the drivers for a better life beyond driving.
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