A Kolkata hospital organised a special hand hygiene programme on Thursday on the occasion of World Health Day with an aim of awaking people on health related issues. Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata organised “Hand Washing and Hand Hygiene Awareness Drive” programme on Thursday.

Rupali Basu, Chief Executive Officer of the hospital said, “The theme this year on the World Health Day is very important for a country like India where we do not follow hand hygiene habits. This single act (proper hand wash) alone can reduce 50 percent diarrhoeal disorders and can prevent many other infections.”“We dedicate one full month in a calendar year for this activity alone to educate our patients and visitors to help them to maintain proper hand hygiene,” she said.

On the same day, the the Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Pradip Narayan Ghosh took a pledge with his team to support the Billion Hearts Beating (BHB) campaign launched by Apollo Hospitals Group. The campaign aims to spread awareness about prevention of heart diseases, its risk factors and the steps that one can take to control the problem. “Risk of heart disease can be significantly reduced through simple lifestyle modifications. Collectively as a nation we can do something about it.” said Rupali Basu.