| Dear Stakeholder, |
| True sustainability can only be achieved through a balanced health, environment, and development agenda that addresses the needs of every social stratum and facilitates inclusive growth along with democratic access. |
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| Beyond the Privileged |
| India has tipped the scales of economic power in her own favour. Even the current global meltdown has not been able to thwart the Indian economic juggernaut. In fact, the World Bank has credited India's return to high levels of growth, in helping the ailing global economy to recover from its crisis. |
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| Even as the Indian economy remains in the pink of health, healthcare and access to medicines are ailing. In a country which represents approximately one sixth of humanity, the right to health only remains enshrined in the letter of the Constitution, but not implemented in practice. In spite of the great advances in medicine, its healing touch does not reach the grassroots. |
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| Moreover, the economic inequalities in society keep the vulnerable sections bereft of healthcare. Even as international medical tourism flourishes in India, 39 million Indians are pushed into poverty each year because of personal expenditure on healthcare, as public spending on health remains abysmally low. |
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| Healthcare, far from helping people rise out of poverty, has become an important cause of household impoverishment and debt. In low-income and middle-income countries like ours, drugs account for between 20% to 60% of expenditure on healthcare, and between 50% to 90% of these costs are incurred personally by patients. Therefore the high cost of drugs is one of the factors contributing to the problem of access to medicines**. |
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| Sustainability - The Antidote |
| It has been our ongoing mission to rectify this malady, and make India a true healthcare democracy, where every individual can avail of cure with dignity. Dr. Reddy’s was founded on this very premise - to provide access to affordable medicine. |
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| Our solution to this problem goes beyond the basics. We are bridging the gap by working on both sides of the shore – improving affordability and enhancing household incomes. |
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Providing Affordable Medicine |
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We have been bringing down the cost of medicines through the economic and efficient production of generics and biosimilars. Our scientists are consistently unraveling complex chemistry to produce affordable alternatives of innovator drugs. Our aim at Dr. Reddy’s is that if a drug is currently sold at USD1.20 we should bring it down to INR1.20 and be able to produce, distribute and market it profitably at these levels. Our inherent strengths of thrift and exactitude continued to be on demonstration during the year as we added a host of new affordable cures to our product portfolio. |
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Enhancing Income Levels |
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Through Dr. Reddy’s Foundation (DRF), a social arm of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., we have been working incessantly for the past decade to raise household incomes. Our focus has been to empower the youth and children through education and employment to create a positive domino effect on their quality of life. |
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Education and income are key determinants of health. Many researchers have proved that poor health in childhood is associated with lower educational attainment, inferior family income and all of these together lead to worse health in adulthood. Higher income and education levels enable access and affordability to both - prevention and cure. |
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| Livelihood Programs |
| Our most successful employment intervention, Livelihood Advancement Business Schools (LABS), completed a decade of impressive performance, this year, and has till date created more than 200,000 jobs. |
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| ‘Skilling Rural India’ a comparatively recent programme , which imparts short-term vocational training courses in various industrial and service sectors to youth from economically deprived communities, now reaches 2500 families in 120 villages at 12 different locations in India. This initiative also helps the youth to set up micro-enterprises and be self-employed. |
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| Education Programs |
| Our unrelenting efforts on the education front have ensured that the light of education reaches thousands through initiatives such as Yuva Youth Learning Centres, Transit Education Centres, Pudami Neighbourhood Schools, Pudami English Primaries, Education Resource Centre, Kallam Anji Reddy Vidyalaya and Vocational Junior College, Early Childhood Care & Education Centre and Bridge School at the Juvenile Home for Girls. |
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| In addition to reducing drug prices and increasing earning potential, we are also building the necessary capabilities and soft skills among medical support professionals, through DRFHE programmes with an aim to strengthen the healthcare delivery system. |
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| Today at Dr. Reddy’s we have successfully blended the economic and the social to create a profitable business model that is inclusive and stands tall on the foundation of care.
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| Beyond Progress |
| Just as access to healthcare has not kept pace with India’s economic prosperity, our growing industrial and technological abilities too are on a collision course with our environmental responsibilities. While we increasingly showcase our strengths to the world, we are also expanding our environmental footprint to unacceptable limits. The dire predictions of our careless growth models have started to spill out of statistical pages to damage our environment and our lives at personal and public levels. |
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Pursuing a Greener Chemistry |
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Protecting the health of our habitat is integral to protecting societal health. At Dr Reddy's, this goes hand in hand with our primary responsibility of delivering affordable medicines. |
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We have further integrated green principles and concepts in our operation and augmentedongoing ones like solvent recovery systems to water recycling and energy saving to raw material productivity. We are well aware of the cost benefits and competitive advantage that these initiatives yield to our operations. |
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Green chemistry is one such pertinent example. At Dr. Reddy’s, we explore the potential for green-chemistry right from the very initial stages of drug development. This helps us reduce the external impact of our processes, build in economic efficiencies and arrest any potential business interruptions. |
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| Thus over and above economic and social, our concern for the environment is the third strategic pillar on which our business model stands. All three are intrinsically interwoven into our objectives and are a way of life at Dr. Reddy’s. Sustainability is not an overlay on our business process it is our business process. Thus it is no surprise that we continue to operate our business in a sustainable manner in times of calm or crisis. It is this approach that has honed our ability to adapt and respond effectively to a multitude of challenges and harness emerging opportunities. |
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| I would like to sum up with an inspiring quote from the Upanishads that will help us be faithful to the sustainable path. |
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You are what your deep driving desire is.
As is your desire, so is your will.
As is your will, so is your deed.
As is your deed, so is your destiny. |
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| A strong desire is all we need to create a healthier and cleaner world for our future generations. So let’s traverse beyond artificial limitations, beyond prejudices and beyond basic business to make a lasting difference. |
| Regards,
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| Dr. Anji Reddy |
