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Fortis, SRL Ranbaxy join hands with MCD to fight against anemia in Delhi Schools

The programme to target 10 lakh school children in 190 MCD schools

New Delhi, 7th January 2008: The public private partnership of Fortis Healthcare, SRL Ranbaxy and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to diagnose and treat anemia in MCD schools was launched today. Students of class five and six will be targeted in this programme. The target students will have to undergo hemoglobin test. Those students, who are diagnosed with anemia, will be given free medicines and consultations. As a part of this programme, MCD has already completed the process of giving free dosage of medicine to fight worms in the target schools. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Aarti Mehra, Major, MCD said “The foundation of a healthy nation starts with healthy kids. But unfortunately, disorders like anemia, which is dangerous, yet can easily be treated, is a big hurdle to build a healthy nation. Therefore, our endeavour is to diagnose and treat the anemia affected kids, to help them live a healthy life. I am thankful to Fortis and SRL Ranbaxy to join us in this drive against anemia.”

Speaking on the occasion Dr. V. K. Monga, Chairman, Health Committee, MCD, said, “According to WHO, 80% kids in developing countries like India suffer from anemia. The physical and mental growth process of an anemic kid is below normal. Therefore, our effort will be to help them live a healthy life, so that they can prepare themselves for the harsher tomorrow. In the programme, we will target 10 lakh students in 190 MCD schools. The first leg of the programme will start in eastern part of Delhi. Assessing the development of the first leg, we will expand the programme to other parts of Delhi.”

As a part of this programme medical professional will visit the targeted schools and collect blood samples from the students. The diagnosed patients will be then given free treatments. “Once the student is diagnosed with anemia, our medical professional will meet the parents for counseling. They will counsel the parents on diet and lifestyle that will help combat this disorder. We will also provide free medicines during this programme,” commented Mr. Praveen Chawla, COO, Fortis Hospital, Noida.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sanjeev Choudhury, CEO, SRL Ranbaxy said, “We are happy to join hands with MCD in the drive against Anemia. We have the state-of-the-art diagnostic technology. We are extremely happy to extend our expertise to help the young kids to live a healthy life.”

About Fortis Healthcare:
Limited, a Ranbaxy promoter group company, was incorporated in the year 1996. It was founded on the vision of creating an integrated healthcare delivery system. Based in Delhi, FHL, which acquired Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Limited in September 2005, has operations in Delhi, Jaipur, Noida, Mohali (Chandigarh), Amritsar, Faridabad, Raipur and Srinagar. It currently has a network of 13 hospitals primarily in North India and 16 satellite and heart command centres, including one heart command centre in Afghanistan. These hospitals include multi specialty hospitals, as well as super-specialty centres providing tertiary and quaternary healthcare to patients in areas such as cardiac care, orthopedics, neurosciences, oncology, renal care, gastroenterology and mother and child care. The hospitals that FHL manages include Fortis La Femme, a "boutique" style hospital that focuses on women's health and maternity care. FHL has the capacity to increase inpatient beds to approximately 2200 beds and has performed more than 6,000 open heart surgeries, 5,000 angioplasties and 16,000 angiographies in the last fiscal year.