Needs of the villagers

In India, 70% of the population lives in the rural areas but due to the rural-urban divide, the primary health services provided to them are deplorable. According to the 2016 Rural Health Statistics Report, in rural Karnataka, the average doctor patient ratio is 1:90,000. Other states too suffer with poorly staffed health centres where people bear heavy expenditure on primary healthcare due to lack of equipment and travelling.

Efforts by UBL

UBL has set up primary healthcare centres and organises camps around its breweries to provide the villagers with affordable and approachable means to take care of their health.

In Karnataka, the activities are spread the widest where in Gangadharapalya health centre provides consultation and medical aid to the people. A full time nurse with doctors’ visits thrice a week have been arranged to ensure that regular check-ups are taking place. Camps in Kurikatta in collaboration with Inchara Foundation and in Bykampady provide them with medicines and doctors’ aid.

West Bengal’s Anne Sullivan Institution for visually impaired children is provided with healthcare services and nutritional support through a health centre. The centre also provides free medical facilities to the residents of the institution and the families living in the vicinity of the brewery. 334 individuals have benefitted from the services.

Other health centres that provide free medicines and check-ups include those in the Bethoda village of Goa; Maharashtra’s Palekhurd, Dongrepada, Bhangsi Mata Gad and the Bhawan Baba Balika Ashram of Aurangabad; and in the Pudussery Panchayat of Kerala. People in the Mallepally village of Telangana have received special treatment in paediatrics and gynaecology.

Areas of camps are Chainpura village of Bihar where eye check-ups and distribution of spectacles took place, Gwalda in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. A health camp in Odisha’s Khurda municipality was organised where people got free medical consultation and medicines.

Outreach

Needs of the villagers

Villages usually struggle with cutting the disease at its roots. Hygienic grounds with no breeding mosquitoes, clean toilets and awareness about maintaining healthy habits are necessary to ensure that the disturbance is prevented before it strengthens or even arises.

Efforts by UBL

UBL aims at creating awareness and lending a helping hand to enable the villagers around its breweries to breed healthy living grounds for themselves. Fumigation and fogging activities to carry out mosquito control are done in Karnataka located Gangadharapalya, villages in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. In Goa, a lot of importance is given to women’s health and talks on preventive health were organised on Women’s Day in the Bethoda village. To elevate the same cause, sanitation facilities and toilet units were also constructed for women.

Outreach