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INTERVIEW - Mr. Rajan Nanda,
Chairman, Escorts Group |
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| “The corporate sector has
to become pragmatic and shoulder social responsibility.” |
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| How/What do you feel about the gravity
of HIV/AIDS epidemic in India? |
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| We all understand that the number of HIV-positive
persons and concomitant AIDS cases has risen exponentially in
the last decade or so. In my opinion, it will continue to escalate
till an effective vaccine can be developed. We all are eagerly
looking forward to such a breakthrough. |
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| It will be a fair estimate to say that there
may be about 5 million people living with HIV in India at this
time. I hear that there are more than 57,000 confirmed cases
of AIDS in India at present. There is relatively high prevalence
of HIV in the States of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Karnataka, Manipur, Goa and Nagaland. Higher incidence
is linked with high risk behaviour of particular groups in certain
areas where the general population is subjected to a higher
risk of HIV at large. The incidence is higher in urban areas
than rural areas and more in metropolitan cities where more
than 2 percent pregnant women are found to be HIV-positive. |
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| How do you see the future of India in the
context of an expanding epidemic? |
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| As an industry leader, I perceive the effect
to be two fold. One, the loss of manpower and mandays to the
nation and second, a greater impact on our health budget, as
the epidemic spreads.The estimated 5 million HIV-positive people
are likely to developed AIDS - related illnesses in the next
10 years time. |
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| The emphasis should be two-pronged as well. At
one end, the resources have to be put together for the treatment.
More hospital beds and related facilities have to be provided
by government and the private sector. Costly laboratory investigations
and medicines will need rationalisation. At the other end, long-term
strategies for prevention, and social and financial rehabilitation
of the people living with HIV/AIDS and their families has also
to be undertaken. |
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| What do you think needs to be done expeditiously? |
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| The priorities are several, viz. to halt the
progress of the epidemic by increasing awareness and social
mobilisation; health education to prevent the spread of the
epidemic; treatment; prevention of parent-to-child transmission;
development of safe and effective vaccine; training of manpower;
strengthening the public health infrastructure for prevention
and care. |
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| But in my opinion, the first and foremost is
stress on awareness campaign and easy availability of barrier-methods. |
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| What role can the private/corporate sector
play to help fight the epidemic? |
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| The corporate sector has to become pragmatic
and own-up to its social responsibility. The social stigma attached
to the epidemic needs to be eradicated and people living with
HIV/AIDS should not be alienated from the mainstream. Private
sector can help directly by increasing awareness among its employees
and picking up projects for social mobilisation at large. |
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| The other very important activity could be extending
help in bringing down the cost of treatment. My sincere thanks
to the leaders in the pharmaceutical industry who have already
come out with cheaper drugs for treatment. |
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| Are Indian companies demonstrating sufficient
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in HIV/AIDS? |
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| Yes, as I have said earlier, some of the Indian
pharma companies have already cut down the cost of the drugs.
I foresee that with the current trend of research at immunological,
molecular and genetic levels, hopefully we will have both preventive
(i.e. immunisation) as well as more effective curative drugs
to control the epidemic. |
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| Has your organisation undertaken any HIV-related
initiative? |
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| We, at Escorts, are concerned about this problem
and as a corporate we are addressing this issue in our surrounding
areas, by spreading awareness, encouraging people to seek treatment,
and through Escorts healthcare, we are also encouraging research
work in the field. Our healthcare network is extensively involved
in prevention of HIV and intensive work in this direction is
also being done through our healthcare extension facilities. |
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| What should corporates/public sector do
to help the campaign against HIV/AIDS? |
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| I have already outlined their role, what I sincerely
wish is that they not only spread awareness through campaigns
among their employees, and through media publications, poster
campaign, workshops etc. among general public, but also come
forward to strengthen the domain of public health which should
encompass a holistic approach to health, hygiene, and nutrition
to rid India from the epidemic and improve quality of life. |
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| About
Rajan Nanda |
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