GSK to launch free healthcare plan for employees on World Health Day

NEW DELHI: London-headquartered GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is launching a programme which will provide up to 40 preventive healthcare services for free to its 20,000 employees and their dependents in India.
The company is set to launch the 'Partnership for Prevention' global programme on the World Health Day this Thursday.

The programme, which will be rolled out over the next five years, aims to ensure that GSK's employees have access to a preventive healthcare package, regardless of their job role, grade or location. Pilots for the programme were conducted in 2012 in Ecuador, Ghana, Nigeria and Romania.

The company said that the purpose of the programme is to especially reach out to employees in countries where publicly funded preventive healthcare may be unavailable or limited.

Free services will include child immunisation services for haemophilus influenzae type b, human papillomavirus, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, adult vaccination for Hepatitis A and B, human papillomavirus, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, rabies, diabetes smoking cessation, screening, smoking cessation, prenatal care, and cancer screenings for breast, skin, cervical and colorectal.

GSK is the first company undertaking a programme like this at such a scale across the world, said Manoj Kumar, managing director, GSK Consumer Healthcare. "Our mission is `Do more, feel better, live longer' and we feel our employees should feel and live the purpose of the company," he said.

The healthcare checks are aligned with the WHO's recommendations and employees can avail themselves of these at 1,500 hospitals and diagnostic centres across 440 cities in India, said Kumar. "It is a high reach programme and we have mapped people carefully so that no employees are left out. Every employee from a sales representative to a factory worker will have access to the programme," he said.

A Vaidheesh, managing director at GSK Pharmaceuticals said: "Our job is to develop a business where employees are healthy, engaged and motivated. This programme is voluntary and confidential, and data will remain with them. It's not about who's healthy and who's not."