VPS Healthcare rebuilds health centre in Kerala
DUBAI, July 26, 2021
UAE-based group, VPS Healthcare, has given a new lease of life to a government primary health centre that was destroyed in the floods that ravaged the southern Indian state of Kerala in 2018.
The ruined facility has now undergone a makeover, acquiring a modern face and possessing infrastructure matching a contemporary hospital, a VPS Healthcare spokesperson said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the facility in Malappuram, a northern district of Kerala, on Saturday, July 24 2021.
Reconstructed by Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and Managing Director of VPS Healthcare, as part of its CSR initiative, the centre, now upgraded to a family health centre, is poised to be the largest such facility in India.
Speaking at the inaugural function, Vayalil said: "We are proud to dedicate the family health centre to the people of Vazhakkad. When we had embarked on this mission to reconstruct a destroyed health centre, we wanted to showcase a model for the future.
"At Vazhakkad, we have built a health and wellness centre so that the people of this area will benefit from this. It has been a collective effort, and this would not have been a success without the backing of the local population," Vayalil added.
Underscoring the significance of primary and family health centres in Kerala, the chief minister said, it is the vision of his government to strengthen the public health centres.
“In our second tenure, we have prioritised the strengthening of public health institutions as part of the 100-days action plan. Projects such as Vazhakkad is a big boost for our efforts,” said Vijayan.
Rather than catering to the medical needs of the rural population, it aims to serve a larger purpose of enhancing the health and wellness of the community with an open gymnasium, play area for children, and other amenities to promote a healthy lifestyle.
The centre has an advanced laboratory and modern imaging department. It has ten observation beds with oxygen concentrators and a stabilisation unit to attend to patients suffering from low oxygen saturation.
Lulu Group Chairman MA Yusuff Ali, the chief guest of the function, said it is heartening to see that the Vazhakkad primary health centre has now been upgraded to a modern health infrastructure with the capacity to address the growing needs of the public.
Vayalil added that VPS Healthcare will employ five staff - with salary and other benefits - for the next two years at the Vazhakkad centre to maintain the quality of services.
Ravaged by the devastating floods of 2018, Kerala suffered a loss of more tha Rs. 30,000 crores ($4.5 billion) and Vayalil had then pledged to aid Kerala's relief work through financial assistance.
In the initial phase, VPS Healthcare had sent a relief flight with medical supplies, water purifiers, hygiene products, water, clothes, and non-perishable food and in the second phase, it expressed its intent to reconstruct vital infrastructure destroyed in the disastrous floods.-TradeArabia News Service
