Cadila Pharma, Akshaya Patra foundation continue to help families of students through distribution of essential kits

Ahmedabad: Cadila Pharma in association with Akshaya Patra foundation continues with distribution of essential food items to the students who have been missing out on mid-day meals during lockdown. Collectively they distributed essential kits to 4400+ families in the duration of 3 months.

The Akshaya Patra foundation and Cadila Pharmaceuticals have been sponsoring the unlimited mid-day meals for 10,863 students studying in 38 Government Primary Schools of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts. Since the lockdown, the communities belonging to lower economic status have limited access to educational and health resources. Cadila Pharma and Akshaya Patra foundation are trying to help as many students as they can, in these trying times.
“By caring for the community we ensure that the care continues for all. We have been focussed towards our community since our inception in 1951. We will be continuing with the distribution of these kits to help as many families as we can. This is a unique program which brings together the collector office, education department and local panchayat of various villages along with Akshaya Patra Foundation.” said B.V. Suresh, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

The children of these govt. schools belong to families with weak economic status and have limited access to educational and health resources. Since the lockdown, many families were affected, especially the kids as they could not go to schools and avail the mid-day meals. This caused a loss of not only education but their health suffered.

The essential kits contains 11 grocery items (Tur Dal, Desi Chana, Cottonseeds Oil, Red Chilly Powder, Turmeric Powder, Dhaniya Powder, Mustard Seeds, Salt, Jaggery, Roasted Groundnut, Roasted Chana). This kit comes as an addition to wheat and rice being distributed by the government. The parents of these students were called for collection of these kits. The distribution is done in slots to avoid crowding and maintain social distancing. Along with the items, guidelines to protect oneself from COVID-19 printed in the local language are also being distributed to raise awareness.

Cadila Pharma (www.cadilapharma.com) has always been active with its CSR initiatives. In the month of June 2020, Cadila Pharma distributed more than 6,500 essential kits to local communities, sanitisers and masks to those affected by lockdown. In addition to this, the Kaka-Ba hospital, a charitable hospital in Hansot district, Ankleshwar has been treating patients free of cost for their illnesses. Cadila Pharma is an active contributor to child education initiatives, has planted more than 80,000 trees in the past year and has been involved in development of villages.