Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL) and Apollo Foundation showcased the achievements of their “Total Health” initiative in Aragonda, in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district on October 27th reporting for providing over 10.89 lakh nutritious meals in last 13 years as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to improve healthcare system and community welfare and development in rural areas.

The Total Health was launched by Apollo Foundation in Aragonda in 2013 to expand healthcare beyond treatments in hospitals, combining it with other various factors like preventive health with education, nutrition, safe drinking water, skill development and livelihood opportunities. The programme not only limits to the basic medical treatment but also works for overall community well-being.

According to Apollo, the programme has expanded to more than 23 locations and has conducted over two lakh yoga training sessions over the years, promoting awareness on good physical health and healthier lifestyle choices.  It has also created employment opportunities for more than 300 women residing in these rural areas through textile and jute production which contributes to more participation of women to give them a opportunity to develop various skills and earn income for their livelihood. 

The Apollo hospitals in Aragonda was founded in 2000, as a 50-bed secondary care hospital has now treated over 1.67 lakh patients, executed over 12000 surgeries and has also performed over 1000 knee replacement surgeries achieving a significant milestone and also showing the transformation of healthcare system in rural areas as well as how everyone should get high quality and reasonably priced access to healthcare. 

The initiative overall conveys how unified, community-led, healthcare system can result in sustainable change and act as an example for adoption for such practices across other states and underprivileged regions.

BI Bureau