A trucker’s job requires spending more time on the road than with family and this on-the-move lifestyle exposes one to a lot of health hazards. Addressing this issue, in a unique first of its kind corporate partnership, Ashok Leyland has teamed up with Apollo Tyres to provide healthcare facility to the trucking community in Namakkal, a prominent transhipment hub in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Servicing a daily floating population of more than 12,500 truckers, and the allied community, the primary aim of the Healthcare Centre would be awareness generation on HIV-AIDS and prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among truckers, and the local community.
The centre will be staffed by a qualified doctor, a counsellor, and paramedics, apart from outreach workers and a network of peer educators appointed over a period of time. This team will work together towards bringing down the instance of STIs, and thereby, reducing the vulnerability of the population of contracting HIV, apart from offering a gamut of other health care service for vision care, diabetes, hypertension, and Tuberculosis. The two companies will be working together to establish more such healthcare centres in large transhipment hubs.
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The new facility, Healthcare Centre, has been created with a spacious floor space of 2500 sq. ft. The centre is equipped with adequate diagnostic equipment, which is exclusive for the health education of the Driving community within the Driver Training premises. A nominal registration fees of INR 20/- will enable the driver to avail these services at any of the 31 Apollo centres across India. The idea behind this initiative is not just to provide medical benefits, but also to educate the drivers for a better life beyond driving.
Since 1994, Ashok Leyland has been educating the driving community on good driving practices through the establishment of the Driver Training Institute at Namakkal. Currently, 11 Driver Training Institutes are operational across the country and cumulatively 14,82,462 drivers have been educated since inception, through various sessions. Apollo Tyres launched its healthcare initiative in 2000, and has since reached out to nearly 50 lakh people with its services like HIV-AIDS Awareness and Prevention, Vision Care, TB and other healthcare services in 31 centres across the country. The initiative has won multiple awards for its pioneering and effective work with the community.