Aster Celebrates 30 Years of Quality Healthcare with a Year of Giving Back Initiatives
Aster DM Healthcare hosted its 30th Anniversary event to celebrate 3 decades of service as well as the culmination of its Aster@30 2017 campaign. The event also brought to light the social responsibility initiatives and programmes, under the Aster Volunteers umbrella that benefited more than 497,000 lives in the Middle East and India.
The Gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt Dubai was hosted on the 11th of December, the founding day of Aster DM Healthcare, and welcomed a line-up of government officials and VIPs including HE Dr Amin Al Amiri, Asst Under Secretary (Ministry of Health UAE); Dr Marwan Mohd Saleh Al Mulla, Director of Health Regulation (DHA); HE Mohammed Sharaf, Asst Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation for Economic & Trade Affairs; HE Sheikh Salem Abdulrahman Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Rulers Court; HE Dr Rashid Al Leem, Chairman of Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA); HE Vipul, Consul General of India to Dubai; HE Mohammed Juma Al Naboodah, Group Executive Chairman of Al Naboodah Group; HE Jamal Majid Khalfan Bin Thaniyah, Chairman of JMBT Group; Mr Shamsudheen Bin Mohideen, Chairman of Regency Group; Mr Yusuff Ali M A, Chairman & Managing Director of Lulu Group; Mr Anoop Moopen, Director of Aster DM Healthcare and others. The evening featured a number of cultural and entertainment activities highlighting the successful journey of the group from a single clinic practice in Bur Dubai in 1987. Spanning over 9 countries, the group today operates through 316 establishments that include hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and retail outlets meeting the demands of more than 50,000 people a day.
Addressing guests at the celebratory evening, Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder, Chairman & Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, welcomed his guests and talked about what 30 years in the business of health and wellness has taught him, and why it was so important to make even more of an effort to give back this year, saying: Tonight marks an important milestone in our Aster journey. I would like to thank all those who have supported both Aster and myself from the early days, particularly the leaders of this beautiful nation and the healthcare sector, without whom we wouldnt be able to stand here to mark this milestone. Today, as proud as we are to celebrate these past 30 years, our journey has just begun.
During our silver jubilee celebration in 2012, I stood before you and made the commitment to expand our operations to more than 300 institutions. 5 years on, we now operate 316 establishments, with 18,174 employees around the world. Our forward-looking vision will continue to focus on providing accessible and affordable quality healthcare to our patients under our brand promise of Well Treat You Well. Our commitment to delivering compassionate care will continue through our successful Aster Volunteers programme that has been driving our community outreach efforts in the GCC and India.
Standing as a key pillar of the Aster@30 campaign, the Aster Volunteers programme that launched earlier this year saw numerous initiatives in the region and India. These initiatives included Basic Life Support training programme that trained more than 104,600 people in the GCC and India, training them on first responder techniques that are useful in case of emergencies such as heart attacks and choking. Under the Aster Volunteers Programme, Aster also recruited 66 differently-abled employees into the Aster workforce in addition to providing free surgeries and investigation to over 11,355 patients in the GCC and India. Working with local government bodies and non-profit organisation, Aster is currently leading on a network wide donation drive, targeting the collection of 30,000 units of blood by March 2018. The Aster Volunteers Programme also reached out to disaster-affected communities providing food supplies to refugees in Somalia and the Rohingya Refugee camp in Bangladesh. Aster also provided free healthcare services to Syrian refugees in Zaatari, Azraq and Erbid in Jordan. In addition, free medical screenings were also performed on 45,000 people in UAE and other geographies in GCC, India and Philippines.
Speaking on the Aster Volunteers Programmes achievements to date, Dr. Azad Moopen said: We are very proud of the amazing achievements that we have accomplished under the Aster Volunteers Programme to date. In the past year alone, we were able to enhance the lives of more than 497,000 people. Our efforts will not end here, this is just the beginning as we set to strengthen and expand our volunteers efforts to add new life changing initiatives in the near future.
In addition, Aster launched two new applications under the Aster@30 initiative which include an Aster Emergency App to support prompt Emergency Ambulance services and an Aster Immunization App, a user friendly application that helps to keep track of immunization or vaccinations of kids
