Members of the Confederation of Indian Industry would spend around Rs 100 crore in setting up 100 anti-retroviral treatment (ART) centres throughout the country for free treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.
Corporate conglomerates such as Ballarpur Industries, ACC Cements and Godrej have joined hands to fight against the disease under the aegis of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a leading industry body that has been spearheading the cause with its AIDS awareness campaign.
‘AIDS is already a national crisis and we had in place an ‘AIDS in the workplace’ initiative. However, for a long time, we had been planning different HIV/AIDS initiatives to have a larger impact,’ Gautam Thapar, Ballarpur Industries’ chairman, said at a conference here Friday.
According to Arvind Pathak, business head (south-west) of ACC, the firm has built its own AIDS awareness centre.
The CII, in partnership with the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), has also developed a smart health card. According to the CII, India Inc is now much more aware about the disease and its social consequences.