Category: Sectors

Relaxo Foundation has donated 25,000 pair of slippers to sanitation workers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) who have been battling the COVID-19 pandemic for over 100 days now and counting. In these times of Coronavirus pandemic, sanitation

Relaxo Foundation has donated 25,000 pair of slippers to sanitation workers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) who have been battling the COVID-19 pandemic for over 100 days now and counting.

In these times of Coronavirus pandemic, sanitation workers with the municipal corporations have been at the forefront, putting their lives at risk in ensuring a clean and healthy environment, it said in a statement.

Speaking about the initiative, Relaxo Foundation President Ramesh Kumar Dua said: “Sanitation workers across the country are warriors on the frontlines, whose courage and commitment helps us stay safer. This global pandemic has brought to fore the realization of their silent, selfless service to the society which we do appreciate and acknowledge.”

Due to the nature of their work, it is critical for them to have easy-to-clean and comfortable slippers, he said.

Relaxo Foundation has also supported AIIMS, Delhi, and other hospitals in Haryana and Uttrakhand, in purchasing medical equipment besides aiding government administration and various charitable organizations in distributing relief materials for migrants and marginalized families.

Launched in 2015, Relaxo Foundation is the CSR arm of Relaxo Footwears Limited, and is guided by the philosophy of business that believes in collective development of all stakeholders, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid.

Essar Foundation, a CSR arm of Essar, has launched a mobile App called ‘Sahej’ to promote awareness about menstrual hygiene. The Sahej app has been developed in consultation with key NGOs working in the menstrual hygiene space, namely the Rotaract Club

Essar Foundation, a CSR arm of Essar, has launched a mobile App called ‘Sahej’ to promote awareness about menstrual hygiene.

The Sahej app has been developed in consultation with key NGOs working in the menstrual hygiene space, namely the Rotaract Club, Kavach A Movement and Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan.

“Sahej is not just a menstrual hygiene management app. It is a movement to sensitively, yet assertively, address the subject of menstruation,” Essar Foundation CEO and Essar Group President Human Resources Kaustubh Sonalkar said in a statement.

With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, many women will have limited access to menstrual hygiene products and services, he said.

“We hope Sahej will help break geographical and linguistic barriers to equip women with the right information and products,” he added.

According to the Foundation, the Android-based app offers a one-stop solution for women to menstruate with dignity. It encourages adolescent girls to maintain menstrual health by availing of hygienic products at subsidised prices.

The Sahej app features a one-of-a-kind e-store of menstrual products manufactured by women-led micro enterprises and SHGs (Self Help Groups).

It also provides a platform to donate sanitary napkins to underprivileged women, as well as equip Aanganwadi workers with the right information for educating girls from rural India on correct menstrual hygiene.

Additionally, the app provides for unique ways to promote menstrual hygiene awareness through interactive game-based learning, educational videos by renowned doctors, and a period tracker. Available in three languages—Hindi, Marathi and English—the app caters to the customised needs of every woman across every age group.

The Sahej App offers a variety of products like sanitary napkins, tampons, menstrual cups, panty liners and pee kits for women’s personal hygiene and choice at affordable rates.

Also, products like dispensers, incinerators, and even pad manufacturing technologies will be available at discounted prices. “We plan to launch the e-commerce facility of the App post the Covid-19 lockdown,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Foundation has also distributed 4 lakh sanitary napkins to women in Mumbai slums and the Mumbai police duirng the ongoing lockdown period.

Sanitary napkins were distributed in collaboration with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST),it said.

BMC helped the Foundation identify the relevant municipal wards where these pads were in short supply and BEST helped us with the transport, it added.

To safeguard the lives of frontline health workers, the HCL Corporation on Friday said it has joined hands with Coimbatore district administration to provide vital protection equipment including masks, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hand sanitizers

To safeguard the lives of frontline health workers, the HCL Corporation on Friday said it has joined hands with Coimbatore district administration to provide vital protection equipment including masks, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hand sanitizers and hands-free wash basins.

HCL has provided 7,000 PPE kits complying with the SITRA and HLL specifications, 20,000 three-ply masks, 55 liters of sanitizer and two hands-free wash basins to the district administration, an official statement said.

These are being routed to the frontline workers of Coimbatore district working in the ESI Hospital, Government Hospital, Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, District Health Centres and conservancy workers across the district, it said.

Commenting on the support, District Collector K Rajamani said: “HCL’s support and the protection equipment being provided by them will ensure the safety of our bravehearts. We would like to thank HCL for this critical and timely support.”

He said that the district administration has already taken several steps and is prepared to meet all requirements from a healthcare perspective.

Bengaluru-based NGO Rise Againt Hunger India (RAHI) on Friday said it will provide 1.5 million meals more in the next 6-8 weeks to vulnerable groups who would still need support despite staggered lifting of lockdown. So far during the lockdown period

Bengaluru-based NGO Rise Againt Hunger India (RAHI) on Friday said it will provide 1.5 million meals more in the next 6-8 weeks to vulnerable groups who would still need support despite staggered lifting of lockdown.

So far during the lockdown period, RAHI has supplied over 1 million meals — both cooked meal and dry supplies — to migrant labour, daily wage labour, construction workers, contract labour, street vendors and rickshaw pullers, it said in a statement.

“Till date we have supplied over 1 million meals to these people who have been hit the hardest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are continuing with our efforts and aim to reach more people across more cities pan India,” RAHI Executive Director Dola Mohapatra said.

According to RAHI, the economic revival will take time despite the staggered lifting of the lockdown across some parts of the country.

During this time, the major challenge would be workforce stabilization and livelihood regeneration. There would still be a sizable chunk of these vulnerable groups, who will need extended support, it said.

“Keeping this in mind, RAHI plans to continue its efforts with a target of providing to 1.5 million additional meals to these vulnerable groups over the next 6-8 weeks.

The nationwide lockdown was first imposed on March 24 and thereafter been extended twice till May 17 in order to prevent the spread of deadly viral disease COVID-19.

Piramal Foundation said its primary healthcare body Piramal Swasthya has handled and addressed over 2.5 lakh phone calls related to COVID-19 queries during the lockdown period so far. Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute has tied up with

Piramal Foundation said its primary healthcare body Piramal Swasthya has handled and addressed over 2.5 lakh phone calls related to COVID-19 queries during the lockdown period so far.

Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute has tied up with seven states — Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Bihar — for providing its 104- Health Information Helpline service in this COVID-19 crisis period.

So far, the institute has received 2.5 lakh plus phone calls on this helpline platform and addressed callers’ queries on coronavirus disease, the Foundation said in a statement.

On an average, the health helpline received around 20,000 calls in a day. The calls were received from seven states, but maximum were from Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, it said.

During this COVID-19 pandemic, the health helpline service has been acting as a channel between the governments and the communities by offering validated medical advice to the callers 24×7 every day.

Piramal Swasthya said to deal with increased number of calls, the frontline staff team has been significantly expanded as per state requirement.

Currently, over 1200 staff across various centres that includes paramedics, counsellors and doctors, are relentlessly attending to calls related to health advice, counselling, information sharing and reporting of COVID-19.

Commenting about the helpline, Piramal Foundation CEO Paresh Parasnis said: “This initiative has helped in creating awareness thus bringing down the anxiety and fear in the society caused due to the coronavirus.”

The 104-health helpline proved to be a simple and yet effective tool to share validated information as per the guidelines of WHO and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, especially for people who are not technology savvy or live in areas where access to media is challenging, he added.

It was in 2006, Piramal Swasthya had started 104 Health Information Helpline in India as a one stop solution for all health-related information and advice.

The service is supported by innovative software application and Clinical Decision Support System of validated algorithms and disease summaries and helps in tackling shortage of human resource enabling access to quality Healthcare services.

PNB Housing Finance on Wednesday said it has signed a pact with IIT-Delhi for developing sustainable and reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for healthcare workers. Under the agreement, the PNB Housing Finance Ltd (PNBHFL)

PNB Housing Finance on Wednesday said it has signed a pact with IIT-Delhi for developing sustainable and reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for healthcare workers.

Under the agreement, the PNB Housing Finance Ltd (PNBHFL) will support research and development of a unique prototype material to be used in manufacturing sustainable (washable and reusable) PPE surgical gowns and masks.

The PPE kits developed will then be supplied to government hospitals, PNBHFL said in a release.

In managing patients afflicted with the highly-contagious COVID-19, healthcare workers rely heavily on PPE kits in protecting themselves from being infected or infecting others.

But a shortage of PPE kits is exposing doctors, nurses and other frontline workers to the risk of infection while caring for COVID-19 patients.

Amid rise in number of COVID-19 cases, PepsiCo India funded first batch of test kits for coronavirus have started reaching testing sites across India. These kits are being procured and distributed by Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) with funding

Amid rise in number of COVID-19 cases, PepsiCo India funded first batch of test kits for coronavirus have started reaching testing sites across India.

These kits are being procured and distributed by Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) with funding from PepsiCo India and have been approved by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the company said in a statement.

PepsiCo India had volunteered to support the scale up of India’s COVID-19 testing capacity through support provided to FIND.

Besides, it has taken other initiatives including providing over 7 million meals to families impacted by COVID-19 outbreak in partnership with non-government organisation (NGO) partners.

The test kits and reagents have been procured from manufacturers approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and are run using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology, which is currently the gold standard for detecting patients with COVID-19, the company said.

Commenting on the initiative, PepsiCo India President Ahmed ElSheikh said, “PepsiCo India stands committed to lending its full support to the GoI (Government of India) in its fight against the pandemic. Our partnership with FIND is all about scaling up access to diagnostics and testing kits across the country.”

During these challenging times, he further said, “We have been working very closely with FIND to distribute testing kits to public and private healthcare laboratories in India. We believe lending assistance through such initiatives is also one of the best ways to support our real heroes the healthcare community who are battling on the front lines against COVID-19.”

FIND India Head Sanjay Sarin said the sheer size of India and the density of urban populations increases the challenges and complexity of scaling up testing capacity quickly and efficiently.

“Testing is our first-line of defence against this pandemic and it is actionable today,” he said, adding private sector partnerships such as the one with PepsiCo India are critical to make COVID-19 tests available to everyone who needs it.

With COVID-19 cases rising fast in Maharasthra, Startup IndField Services Pvt Ltd has started from today free one-time disinfection service to the Mumbai police. There are 250-odd police stations and offices in Mumbai. It would take 30 days to disinfect all of

With COVID-19 cases rising fast in Maharasthra, Startup IndField Services Pvt Ltd has started from today free one-time disinfection service to the Mumbai police.

There are 250-odd police stations and offices in Mumbai. It would take 30 days to disinfect all of them, company’s Chief Managing Officer Krishna Anand said.

The free disinfection service would cost the company Rs 25 lakh, he said.

“It is a difficult time for all of us. Being a startup it was a difficult step knowing the financial crisis each company is facing during this turmoil, still our partners stood strong together and believed that it is the least we can do to express our gratitude,” he said.

Mumbai-based IndField Services provides affordable disinfection services to housing societies, offices, commercial centres and hospitals.