HEALTH IN WORKPLACE EVENT ORGANIZED BY THE MADRAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

The Importance of Health in the Workplace

People spend a large part of their day at their workplace and it is time that organizations recognized the importance of ensuring health of their employees. An essential discussion organised on the topic of “Healthcare in the Workplace” by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on 16th September 2023, brought to the fore the need to recognize the importance of healthcare across various dimensions in the workplace. The event was ideated by the Healthcare Committee of the Madras Chamber chaired by Mr P V Jaishankar.

The program was inaugurated by Mr Gagandeep Singh Bedi, IAS, Principal Secretary Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. He expressed his delight on the industry engaging in this essential conversation about health in the workplace. He expressed his thoughts on how the industry can partner with the government to elevate healthcare in Tamil Nadu. He said, “It is important that industry partners with the Government to ensure better healthcare at all levels. It can be through PPP model partnerships, contributions through CSR activities and donations, and creating awareness about the Tamil Nadu government’s health initiatives, such as CM Health Insurance Scheme, and the flagship Innuyir Kaapom Thittam – Nammai Kaakum – 48, to their employees.” Mr Gangandeep Singh Bedi made a special request to the MCCI President, Mr T R Kesavan to ensure industries are made aware of these various schemes and extend their support.

“Homes have become workplaces today with a shift brought in during the pandemic and one of the biggest things sacrificed due to this is sleep,” pointed our Mr T S Surendran, Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, the special address speaker who encouraged people to take essential steps towards preventive healthcare.

The special address speaker, Dr P V Jayasankar spoke about the important of ensuring safe and enabling work environment, he said, “We need to appreciate our most important resource – the human resource, by ensuring the quality of the physical and mental environment in the workplace.”

The four panel discussions with experts from across various industries highlighted the importance of engaging in conversations of mindful workspaces, preventive healthcare practices, importance of sleep and nutrition, safe work environments and creating gender sensitive work practices. Experts spanning across various industries including manufacturing, healthcare, IT and services shared their thoughts on how we can we work towards creating workplaces that encourage health on a physical and mental level or their employees at every grade. Dr Iyappan Ponnusamy, Co-Chair of the Healthcare committee of the MCCI concluded the session  by encapsulating the importance of this session in the current industry scenario and promised to take forth the recommendations of the discussions to the industry.

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