Vedanta Alumina to sign Mou with OSACS

Businessstandard, Nov 25, 2008

Vedanta Alumina Limited (VAL) will soon enter into a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Orissa State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) with the objective of starting workplace interventions on HIV/AIDS for the employees of the company’s unit at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.

The partnership between VAL and OSACS also aims to extend the services to the outreach community, including tribals and migrant workers.

As a part of the MoU which is scheduled to be inked on November 28 this year, OSACS will offer medicine kit, sponsor training programmes for the doctors and para medical staff and also supervise the company’s progress on workplace interventions on HIV/AIDS. On its part, VAL will provide manpower and infrastructure in the form of testing labs for the initiative on HIV/AIDS.

“VAL has set up an exclusive HIV/AIDS testing centre at Niyamgiri rehabilitation colony and the centre is being manned by two doctors and five para medical staff. OSACS is partnering us to start workplace interventions for HIV/AIDS. The services related to HIV/AIDS including awareness on the issue and collection and testing of blood samples will also be extended to the outreach community which includes tribals and migrant workers”, said Sabita Swain, chief medical officer of VAL.

She was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a two-day workshop on Workplace Interventions for Corporate Sector in Orissa, jointly organised by OSACS and Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT).

“In Orissa, some major corporates like Rourkela Steel Plant and Hindustan Aluminium Limited have already set up counselling and testing centres for HIV/AIDS”, said Parameswar Swain, project director, OSACS.

He said that apart from Vedanta Alumina, OSACS has approached Tata Steel and Paradeep Port Trust for putting in joint efforts for starting workplace interventions on HIV/AIDS and also extending services to the outreach community.