On the occasion of 37th Foundation Day, Aster DM Healthcare launched a unique initiative for the care of elderly citizens of the country. The programme launched under its CSR arm – Aster Volunteers will focus on the well-being of elderly people in the country and will adopt 10 old age homes with a target of taking care of 1000 elderly citizens who are underprivileged and do not have the means to choose an advanced healthcare facility.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare said, “One of the founding principles of Aster has been to give back to society. From the first clinic which was established in 1987 to today, Asterians have been involved in various volunteer activities to look after the underprivileged. Through the Aster Volunteers Mobile Medical Van, we have been able to reach the need many countries in Asia , Middle East and Africa .” Dr. Moopen added, “This year we are initiating a new programme to take care of the elderly. Our initial target is to reach 1000 elderly citizens through specially trained geriatric nurses. We are reaching out to old age homes to make this happen. Our hospitals will be tasked to identify potential old age homes in their respective region and extend the care initiative.”
The group, which has been working hard on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) recently received the highest ESG ranking among listed healthcare companies in India with a STRONG rating by CRISIL. Aster Volunteers, with its volunteers in India and GCC has planted over 2000 saplings in the past year and intends to plant 3500 trees across both the two geographies within the next fiscal year. As part of its initiative to make its facilities more energy efficient, Aster also plans to build a large-scale solar plant spread across 55 acres in Kasargod which would power seven hospitals in Kerala, a solar project in Kolhapur as well and the future goal is to power all Aster Hospitals with solar lights.
Apart from the above initiatives, Aster Volunteers, one of the largest volunteer groups in the world today will also be launching 7 Mobile Medical Clinics across Bangladesh, Tanzania, Syria, Morocco and India.
