India group helps build 500 homes for Nepal quake victims

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aster DM Foundation, A charitable organization, has committed 40 million to rebuild 500 houses in earthquake-stricken villages of the Himalayan country.
The group’s chairman, Azad Moopen, said they included 23 homes of his own employees working in the Gulf region that were destroyed by the tragedy.
The group currently owns and operates a network of 260 units across the Middle East and India, covering an array of healthcare verticals including clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and a modern medical city, the biggest of its kind in India.
Its multitude of health facilities include 16 hospitals offer primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary care to meet the requirements of people from a cross section of the society.
Dr Moopen personally delivered the contribution to Dhananjay Jha, Nepal’s ambassador to the UAE at a function held in Dubai last week.
“Nepal and its people are very close to our hearts and aid for the Himalayan nation is crucial at present,” he said.
“From our own ranks, we have 23 employees affected by the devastating quake. Since it hit so close to home, Aster DM Foundation has promised them assistance in rebuilding their homes to do what we can do at this time”.
A number of DM group employees also contributed to the fund to build homes destroyed in April after the powerful earthquake and subsequent aftershocks that wiped out hundreds of thousands of houses.
“By rebuilding those 500 homes, Aster DM will provide people with a solid foundation from which they can recover and move on from the earthquake,” he said.
Dhukul Raj, an employee of Aster DM Healthcare Group in Dubai and whose house was damaged by the earthquake said it meant a lot that the people he worked with had come together to help them.
“We can not thank them enough for their generosity. It means a lot to my family that help has come for us to rebuild not just our house but our lives,” he said.
The group’s charity arm offers free and subsidized surgical care like adult and paediatric cardiac surgeries, runs a network of standalone community dialysis centres, early disease detection and cancer screening centres, standalone radiation oncology centres, mobile clinics, subsidies for advanced surgical treatments for underprivileged people, special needs school, village adoptions and local empowerment programme for women and children under the “Healing Touch” umbrella.