Taking forward the Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s call to eliminate Tuberculosis (TB) in India by 2025, Apollo Tyres, in association with Confederations of Indian Industries (CII), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Federation of Kutch Industries’ Association (FOKIA) and The Union, organised a Gujarat focused webinar on TB free India recently. The webinar also had notable representations from the State Health Department and Central TB Division.
Webinar Focuses on Tuberculosis in Gujarat
India has the highest TB burden in the world, with a TB-related death being reported every two minutes. Gujarat, despite being one of the best performing states in the country for TB control in the category of States with 5 million and above population, reported nearly 160,000 new incidences of TB last year; this number is expected to go up to 200,000 cases this year.
Participating in the webinar, Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva, Deputy Director General, Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India, said “More corporates should adopt villages and communities around in their geographies and commit to work in eradicating TB. This initiative will certainly help in addressing the burden of Tuberculosis in the State of Gujarat. We will walk the last mile to support the TB elimination programme.”
The purpose of the webinar was to sensitise and mobilise more corporates to join hands in the fight against TB, and to share the success stories and experiences of the corporates like Apollo Tyres, Ambuja Cement and Nayara Energy who have been working in this sector for a long time.
Rajesh Dahiya, Vice President, Marketing, Sales & Service (India, SAARC & Oceania), Apollo Tyres Ltd said; “Apollo Tyres has been working in the space of healthcare for its trucking community since 2001. We value this segment given they are our biggest customers. We included TB due to its coinfection with HIV, in 2017. This was started in partnership with The Union; and, we are extremely pleased that we have managed to incorporate this in our Healthcare Centres across the country.”
Apollo Tyres joined the Corporate TB Pledge (CTP) in 2018 and since then has rolled out the TB intervention programme at 12 locations across India. The company’s TB initiative primarily aims at awareness generation, early diagnosis and treatment adherence, to reduce morbidity and mortality due to TB amongst the trucking community. Apollo Tyres is also providing microscopy services at Agra and Gwalior in partnership with the respective State Governments.
Now a diamond member of CTP, Apollo Tyres’ TB intervention is part of its Healthcare programme to provide integrated and holistic health services to the trucking community, and the allied population, through its 31 Healthcare Centres located in the transhipment hubs across India. The company has also started a 15- day long campaign for TB free transhipment locations. This campaign aims to intensify case finding among truckers and the allied population, at 31 locations across the country through outreach and communication.
