BENGALURU: Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, on Wednesday announced its collaboration with the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology of Government of India, marking the launch of the ‘C-CAMP-Infosys Foundation Project Early Life’, aimed at bolstering maternity care, both for expectant mothers and newborns in Karnataka, using innovative medical technologies.
Infosys Foundation has committed Rs 8.5 crore towards the project, which will address the early adoption of healthcare technology at low-resource health facilities to improve maternal health screening as well as address the rising cases of neonatal mortality. The project was launched at the Government of Karnataka’s roundtable on health titled ‘A new paradigm with CSR and Philanthropy’, which was chaired by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dinesh Gundu Rao.
As part of the project, cutting-edge fetal monitoring technology will be deployed to enhance the health monitoring of expectant mothers across district hospitals and community health centres in Karnataka. In addition, a neonatal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure device, which provides respiratory support for newborns in respiratory distress, will be made available across critical care newborn units in district and taluk hospitals. This collaboration aims to benefit about 50,000 to 1 lakh women and 4,000 newborns, across eight districts in the state, over a period of four years, a release said.
Gundu Rao said, “Improving maternal and newborn healthcare in the districts is a very important priority for us. We will be starting with Dharwad and Ballari and cover a total of eight districts to strengthen health monitoring for all mothers and quality care to newborns requiring critical care support. The program will definitely make quality healthcare accessible to the masses in Karnataka’s districts.”
Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP, said the collaboration furthers the collective endeavour of leveraging advanced technology built indigenously to provide quality care to mothers and their newborns and creating avenues for affordable and accessible healthcare in Karnataka.
Trustee of Infosys Foundation Sunil Kumar Dhareshwar said, “Maternity care has been a key area of focus for Infosys Foundation within the healthcare space. The ‘C-CAMP-Infosys Foundation Project Early Life’ will not only give a boost to the public healthcare infrastructure in the state but also give impetus to the adoption of innovative technologies in maternal and childcare.”