Among the most active sponsors of the Lifeline Express – a hospital on wheels- Tata Steel has endeavored to take medical care far beyond those connected with its operations. This unique train travels at the behest of its sponsors to those parts of rural India, left untouched by modern medicine.

At Jamshedpur, the Company runs a 850-bed general hospital with a specialised Burn Centre, Dispensaries and Super Dispensaries to reach out to its employees as well as a large number of citizens across the steel city. The network of specialised medical care units it has created also fulfills the need for low cost, high quality medical care for the economically less privileged. It established the Jamshedpur Blood Bank to provide safe blood to those in need and has very successfully promoted a culture of voluntary blood donations. At its outlocations the Company has set up hospitals, which cater to the healthcare needs of people from the surrounding rural areas.

The doctors and para medical staff of its hospitals as well as the dedicated staff of its social welfare arms have also taken health care awareness including eye care, tuberculosis treatment, general health awareness, HIV/AIDS Awareness and Mother and Child survival programmes to a large number of villages and communities.

Through the efforts of the Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) and the Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation (TSFIF), the Company covers the rural and peri-urban population through basic health care amenities. Both these social welfare arms of the Company have been building capacity through training programmes to create community based health care partners as well as grass-root volunteers.

The Company has successfully changed notions of millions of villagers on water and sanitation, created a demand for better health facilities, ensured immunisation for tens of thousands and been instrumental in bringing down infant mortality rates.

Ongoing Programmes

Mother and Infant Survival Programme Population Stabilisation

Operation Muskaan for cleft lips and palates "YARS" - Youth and Adolescent Reproductive Services

Specifically targeted programmes on HIV and AIDS.

Project "WATSAN" for Water and Sanitation Free Health Checkups for Women at Surya Clinics

Pioneer in Family Initiatives and HIV/AIDS Awareness Ringing the first alarm bell for Population Control

The first corporation in the country to launch a family welfare programme, Tata Steel has been promoting controlled family planning since the 1950s. Through the innovative use of communication media, motivational programmes have extremely successfully broken the barriers of prejudice and myths to bring about the participation of communities, in even those which do not readily accept family planning.

Jamshedpur today is a leader in demographic indices in the country. For the past 16 years, Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation (TSFIF) - formerly the Family Planning Department - has been reaching out to the Community in Jamshedpur with Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services. It covers a heterogenous population of over 10,00,000 including adolescents and youth, industrial workers, bustee dwellers and those from the indigenous tribes of the area. Now it is in the process of reauthoring its role, so as to extend both its capability and services into emerging sectors of need.

Health and AIDS Awareness

The health and safety of the employees and the community is critically interlocked with productivity and is enshrined in Tata Steel’s Vision. The Company has thus taken proactive steps in AIDS prevention by spreading awareness not only amongst its employees, but also the community at large so that the inhabitants of Jamshedpur and at other locations, remain safe.

Tata Steel has evolved a corporate sector model to prevent the spread of STD/HIV/AIDS, globally and nationally. This model is being shared through forums like ILO, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Global Compact Initiatives, WHO-SE Asia Regional Office, NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation) and JAPC (Jharkhand AIDS Prevention Consortium) and more recently through Global Reporting Initiatives. This programme extends to the rural and urban populace residing in and around Jamshedpur.

The Global Business Coalition, which is an alliance of over a hundred major international companies who are expected to lead by example, is dedicated to combating this disease. Tata Steel is one of its founding members. The prestigious "Global Business Coalition Award (GBC) for 2003 for Business Excellence" was conferred on Tata Steel for its response to the epidemic and its outstanding HIV/AIDS Awareness work in Jamshedpur. The award is conferred on companies who have evolved best practices on HIV/AIDS prevention, especially to reduce the stigma and discrimination. This award places Tata Steel’s initiatives at par with the best in the world, to be showcased globally.