Safintra Rwanda offers eye care for staff
As part of existing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to contribute to improved welfare of employees, Safintra Rwanda Ltd, part of Safal Group, has organized eye check for its employees, an eye care program that is taking place at all subsidiaries of Safal Group across Africa.
According to Sandeep Phadnis, Business Head at Safintra Rwanda Ltd, the exercise was initiated following research outcomes indicating that eye sight problems are becoming a serious challenge affecting welfare and performance of employees.
Last year’s findings in a study called PROSPER [Productivity Study of Presbyopia Elimination in Rural-dwellers] published in the Lancet Global Health indicated that improved workers eyesight improves productivity and highlighted the need for companies all over the world to ensure workers have access to eye care services.
“Generally nobody goes for the checkup of eyes before unless the problem is becoming very bad. When eyes become weak, it is starting with headache; people will go on unexpected leave hence affecting productivity. It affects the health of the personnel without knowing why it is happening. It takes a long time to understand the problem with his/her eyes,” said Phadnis.
“As a responsible employer, what we have done is to start conducting eye checkup for all employees so that anybody with eye problems can be treated. We are carrying out this exercise in all group companies,” he added.
Phadnis explained that all employees have medical insurance so whoever is detected with eye problems will proceed with treatment at Agarwal Eye Hospital which partnered with the company to conduct eyesight checkup.
Sandeep Phadnis, Business Head at Safintra Rwanda Ltd also went for eye check up
Mr Kanagaraj .R, the General Manager at Dr. Agarwal Eye Hospital said they have screened around 60 staff from Safintra that more than 20 staff of over 40 years old have been recommended to get optical glasses.
He advised people on exercising and good nutrition like intake of carrots and vegetables if they are to have good optical health.
“When somebody has diabetes, they should regularly keep checking the sugar level, have counseling and should check eyes every six months. Normally we advise all persons to come and have eye check up every year,” says Kanagaraj.
Dieudonne Hakizimana, a Safintra employee, welcomed the initiative that came in handy enabling them to know the state of their eyesight.
“Our job requires us to have healthy eyes as we take measurements and identify specific colors matching with clients’ order which someone with eyesight problems cannot deliver properly,” he said.
Safintra Ltd is a Rwanda based subsidiary of the Safal Group with presence in 11 African countries providing high quality roofing materials. The Company was registered in 2007 and started commercial production in Oct 2008.
The company is active in environment conservation and ensures its factory is clean and maintained with professional waste management as used steel is 100% recyclable with no harm on the environment. The company has many other initiatives aimed at promoting employees’ welfare, knowledge transfer supporting education and health.
