ICTC van for factory workers

This is an initiative of Sankalp, a joint venture between ESIC and Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT).

The mobile van will have a blood sample collection and counselling unit. “We will start the initiative with Deccan Group and later approach other industrial units. The purpose of this programme is to make it convenient for factory workers, where they can test themselves during or after the working hours,” said RP Singh, Sankalp's workplace manager.

Counselling sessions

Although at present, only the samples are collected in the van, Sankalp is planning to conduct the tests in van soon. All the test kits are provided free of cost by the government, said Sankalp's project director S J Chander. “We provide pre and post-test counselling session as it is very important. Hence, we can collect on 30 samples every day without affecting the quality of the counselling,” he said.

This is Sankalp’s second programme on this line. The first ICTC van was launched in Bommasandra, where it received a good response.