Karnataka government is strengthening its partnership with corporate houses to fund much of its healthcare initiatives. The government is working to ensure that it could make the most of the Companies Act 2013: Schedule VII which directs a company with a net worth of Rs.500 crore or a turnover of Rs.1,000 crore or a net profit of Rs.5 crore to allocate 2 per cent of last three years average net profits for corporate social responsibility (CSR).

With the alarming increase in non communicable diseases (NCDs) in the state, there is cause for concern. Low budget allocation on the one hand and prevalence of poor healthcare conditions on the other directs the government to open its doors for corporate support, said Shalini Rajneesh, principal secretary, Karnataka health and family welfare department.

The way forward for the state healthcare initiatives is to maximise the support coming in from the corporate houses. A fortnight back Samsung Research & Development Institute, Bengaluru handed over 1,000 Samsung Tab IRIS under the CSR initiative to implement a Primary Health Centre Management Information System in 1,000 select primary health centres in Karnataka. This is followed by HP for telemedicine where Bangalore Medical College and 2,500 primary health centres will be linked to consultants to provide real-time diagnosis and treatment protocols, she added.

“ When companies equip the primacy health centres with diagnostic devices, all the data collected from the PHCs will help the state to strengthen its electronic medical records. The state government is now focusing on preventive health and the skill lies in screening every households for early diagnosis,” said the health secretary.

All these efforts from the private sector will not require an additional budget from the state government but will ensure high quality care. It will equip the healthcare workers accessing rural areas with the real-time technology which is provided via the CSR initiatives by the companies, she said.

On similar lines, we expect more companies in the private sector to rope in with the state government to control and prevent NCDs, said Karnataka principal secretary for health at the inaugural session of a state level workshop on NCDs organised by the Landmark Group which is a Dubai-based retail conglomerate.

The key objective of the workshop which is a joint initiative of the National Health Mission and Karnataka Health Promotion Trust is to facilitate learning and collaborative action to improve the response to NCDs such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, stress and anemia. The focus is the prevent and manage the NCDs which require collaborative action.

As a socially responsible organisation, we have taken the responsibility to advocate and ensure that people with NCDs manage their health with adequate knowledge and access to medical assistance, said Venkatramana B, group president, Landmark.