Venus: Building healthy societies

At Venus Remedies, corporate social responsibility is not a modular add-on to the business; it is core to the business itself. The company encourages its employees to create an environment-friendly work culture within the company’s campus. The company’s three manufacturing units are in Panchkula and Baddi in India and Werne in Germany. Its research and development centre, Venus Medicine Research Centre (VMRC) which is certified with GLP accreditation and approved by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India (DSIR), is located in Baddi.

The company has established various trusts and programmes which are working for various causes including environment preservation.

Dheeraj Aggarwal, CFO, Venus Remedies informs, “We are actively involved in tree plantation drives. Our association of employees, Venus Army, undertakes tree plantation drives in various medical institutions across North India. We encourage our employees and visitors to plant as many trees as possible. Venus promotes health, safety and environment as integral part of its business. We strive to prevent the environmental impact of our activities and products. We maintain a safe workplace environment for our employees, visitors and local community. We train our employees to enable them to contribute to a safer environment in their workplace, home and neighbourhood. The landscaped environs at our manufacturing facility, interspersed with gardens of shrubs and decorative plants, shows how environmentally conscious we are.”

He continues, “We plan to intensify our campaign to generate more awareness on environmental and health issues, including the importance of tree plantation drives, hygiene and cleanliness.”

The company is involved in several programmes under CSR activities, like Manav Uthan Yojana, health camps and environmental and health awareness campaigns. They also conduct free diabetes detection camps in association with the Indian Medical Association, Lions Clubs and Rotary Clubs as well as organise blood donation camps every year. Aggarwal emphasises, “At Venus, corporate social responsibility is not an add-on to the business, but is the core of the business itself. In the past four years, over 400 persons have donated blood in the camps conducted by us. We also run a charitable trust which provides free healthcare to needy patients.”

The company has established a charitable trust named Hanuman Chaudhary Charitable Trust and Manav Uthan Yojana which requisite employees to become part of the initiative and work for the betterment of society. Aggarwal enlightens, “The company runs the Hanuman Chaudhary Charitable Trust, to which all Venus employees contribute 0.75 per cent of their salaries. These funds are spent on providing healthcare to the underprivileged. Under the Manav Uthan Yojana, all Venus Remedies employees contribute a part of their salaries to support weaker sections of the society. The funds collected from them are utilised for providing beds, cycles, sewing machines and blankets to the poor every year. While all our staff members are entitled to medical facilities, we also extend aid for the education of our workers’ wards.”

Venus Remedies also contributes towards the Laxmi Devi Charitable Hospital in Sirsa which provides free primary healthcare, medical consultation and medicines to about 20,000 patients annually.

Venus also conducts campaigns to create awareness about the ill-effects associated with tobacco consumption and the misuse of antibiotics. It also publishes a magazine about cancer for the benefit of the oncologist fraternity and patients. Another magazine brought out by the company’s internal team, “Dost”, educates the medical fraternity and patients about the latest health trends and studies, These initiatives have definitely helped us in enhancing our image as a responsible corporate citizen with a social conscience. “We have been involved in environmental awareness campaigns and health camps, where we make more and more people aware of life-threatening diseases like cancer. We publish a magazine on cancer called “Can-survive” to create awareness on the do’s and don’ts of chemotherapy,” claims Aggarwal.

Self reliable

Venus Remedies are funding all these projects. Moreover, the company has also launched an antibiotic campaign supported by Venus Medicine Research Centre (VMRC) through the NGO called Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance Society (EARS). It has associated itself with a network of doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and contract research organisations across the country to make this campaign a success. Termed as the Awareness Week on Antibiotic Knowledge and Education (AWAKE), this first-of-its-kind campaign in the country was conducted in seven major cities last year. “Our CSR teams regularly visit local government schools and colleges to educate students on self-hygiene, infection control practices and cleanliness. We are hopeful of taking this initiative to the next level over the years,” informs Aggarwal.

Gauging the output reliability can only define the success of the word which has been carried out in the past. Commenting on the work analysis and successful parameter, Aggarwal explains, “We gauge the impact of our CSR activities through the difference we have made to the lives of people. Our CSR initiatives have been quite a success in this respect. The success of our AWAKE campaign can be accessed from the fact that 11,000 people joined EARS as members during the week-long exercise.”

The company’s CSR activities are pan-India in nature, like tree plantation drives coinciding with Doctors’ Day and the awareness campaign to highlight the health threats associated with misuse of antibiotics, with the thrust on North India.

The company has not won any CSR award but the company clarifies that they have never sought recognition on the basis of their CSR activities, they are only a part of the company’s social commitment. The company does not have any flagship programme but aims to have its research wing to spread the AWAKE campaign across the nation.