Ambuja Cements, the cement and building material company of the diversified Adani Portfolio, is committed to enhancing healthcare access for communities in which it operates, no matter how remote their location. Through Ambuja Cements’ CSR arm, two community clinics under the banner of Ambuja Health and Wellness Centres have been successfully set up and operating in Devrani, and Karmandih, the core villages for Ambuja Cements’ Bhatapara plant, Chhattisgarh. These centres have helped the communities overcome various challenges to offer professional, consistent, and comprehensive healthcare access at their doorstep, along with all necessary medication.
Ambuja’s CSR team identified that the residents of Devrani, Maldi, Mopar, and Karmandih villages had been facing severe challenges for access to medical consultation, diagnosis, and treatment. The primary reason for this was their remote location. Hence, two Ambuja Health and Wellness Centres were established at Devrani and Karmandih, respectively.
These two centres have eliminated the villagers’ health concerns arising from transportation constraints, limited access to primary healthcare services, as well as difficulties in timely medication procurement. Through the Ambuja Health and Wellness Centres, villagers now have access to a visiting doctor and paramedical officer at their doorstep once a week, year-round access to medication, as well as a plethora of reasonably priced medical screening tests.
Further, these community clinics also aim to educate and spread healthcare awareness amongst the beneficiaries through regular workshops and behaviour-change communication. A community health volunteer (sakhi) is also assigned at each centre to remain available for consultation, advice, and referral to relevant doctors.
The model of these centres is unique due to its collaborative nature. The respective gram panchayats allocate the space, Ambuja’s CSR arm then equips it with all requisite technical equipment, furniture, and connections with doctors to enable operations. The local village development committees then promote the centre, collect community contributions, facilitate medicine procurement, oversee its monitoring, maintain records and facilitate health camps – all in conjunction with the CSR team.
In this way, the Ambuja Health and Wellness Centres have been enabling the holistic wellbeing of these communities with a steadfast approach to address healthcare disparities and promote healthier lifestyles across geographies.
