Friday, June 04, 2004

NBC puts USD 156 000 into Mobile Healthcare

 

• Launches three brand new, hi-tech, fully fledged Mobile Clinics
• Launches Tanzania’s largest VISA friendly ATM network ever.

 

The National Bank of Commerce (NBC) Ltd. last week donated three state-of-the-art Mobile Clinics worth USD 156 000 to the Dar-es- Salaam Public Health Delivery System Boards Association (DPHDSBA) in Dar-es-Salaam. This brings to four the number of Mobile Clinics operated by NBC Ltd. in Tanzania to date.

 

NBC Ltd. pioneered the use of Mobile Clinics in Tanzania in November 2002, when it scored what is perhaps a first ever, not only in Tanzania, but also in the East African Region, when the bank brought in a USD 45 000 hi-tech, ultra-modern and fully fledged Mobile Clinic.

 

Dar-es-Salaam Mayor Kleist Sykes, who received the three brand new NBC Mobile Clinics on behalf of the DPHDSBA, welcomed the move and praised NBC Ltd. for taking a lead role in assisting the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania in its efforts to meet Health Services provision challenges in the country. He called on other corporate citizens to emulate the remarkable example set by the bank.

 

Speaking at the hand over ceremony, NBC Corporate Affairs & Communications Manager Maxwell Pirikisi said the donation was more than just a gesture of good will and a mark of good corporate citizenship. He said it was a public demonstration of what NBC Ltd. stands for – a bank for all Tanzanians.

 

Said Pirikisi: “Yes we are a commercial bank and as such, undeniably so, our business is that of making money. But we cannot just be profit conscious and remain deaf and blind to community needs. We have come to realize that we cannot just make money and ignore the people who help us to make that money. As a leading corporate citizen, we acknowledge that we are in business because of the people around us and in those communities where we do business.

 

“We are therefore not oblivious of the fact that these people desperately need to be in good health if ever they are going to ensure that we have a healthy bank. A healthy bank makes for a healthy community and vice versa. We are also saying to the Government, we are partners in building a strong economy and a healthy community. And that is why this day is a great day for us, because we are giving back to the community in a tangible way.”

 

The four fully equipped, hi-tech NBC Mobile Clinics, a first in Tanzania, are set to go a long way in improving the delivery of health care services to remotely based or disadvantaged communities where there are no hospitals or clinics. The Dar-es- Salaam Public Health Delivery System Boards Association (DPHDSBA) will be responsible for the movements of these clinics into their areas of operation, the villages and other places, while Managed Mobile Health Clinics (MMHC) (under Polymed Tanzania Ltd.) NBC Mobile Clinics are responsible for the management and administration of the clinics.

 

"There is no better way to demonstrate a company's corporate citizenship and commitment to the development of any community than to get involved in its daily existence, and that includes banking as well as health matters. A healthy community makes for healthy banks. If the community is sick or ill, and dying then the banks will get sick or ill and eventually die," Pirikisi said.

"At NBC, we believe in the growth and development of the communities in which we operate. Health is one of our key focus areas in as far as corporate social responsibility is concerned, alongside education and job-creation. We may not be the loudest bank when it comes to social investment but that's our choice. To us, it's not how much we trumpet our own involvement in community development, but what we do to help alleviate the scourge of poverty in this country."

 

Pirikisi said that in the last two years NBC has already spent USD 201 000 in Mobile Clinics alone, excluding other Corporate Social Investment initiatives the bank is involved in. He said bringing health care services closer to the people of Tanzania was as important as making banking easier for them.

 

"From the day we took over the management of this bank in April 2001, we, as management, made a conscious decision that we will get involved in various community development projects in Tanzania. After all we are indeed, truly and proudly so, Tanzanian, as a bank, in every sense of the word. We have made it our business to make banking easier and to bring it closer to every Tanzanian by taking the lead in lowering our minimum balance on Savings Accounts to Tshs. 5 000 as far back as 2002. We also brought banking closer to our customers when we introduced 30 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country in early 2002, thereby making banking available 24 hours a day.

 

"In November 2002, we went a step further and launched Internet Banking, code-named net- bank, thereby bringing banking into people's homes and offices. We believe in accessibility or availability, affordability and convenience of services whether they are banking or health related. We have taken banking a step closer to our customers by opening new branches in active areas such as Geita, Karatu, Kilimanjaro International Airport, and most recently in February 2004, Sea Cliff Branch in Dar-es-Salaam. Three weeks ago, NBC went another step further by launching its VISA connectivity, which enables anyone with a VISA enabled debit or credit card to access their external or foreign accounts through any of our ATMs throughout Tanzania. That means that NBC is now by far not only the leading bank in Tanzania, but also the only bank with the largest online-real time VISA friendly ATM network in the country.

 

Pirikisi said that as a truly Tanzanian bank NBC remains committed to the growth and development of the various communities in Tanzania. "After all we are in deed a Tanzanian bank. It is our sincere hope that other concerned parties in both the public and private sector emulate our example and seek to do more to improve the standards and quality of life in this country. The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania cannot do it alone; neither can NBC. But joint efforts, between various members of the local and international donor community, can make a remarkable difference," he said.

 

Before the introduction of the NBC Mobile Clinics about two years ago, district medical staff used to carry medicines and other medical supplies in cooler boxes, traveling by whatever public transport they could get, to get to remote village centers. Many parts of rural Tanzania still use this old system but Pirikisi has a message of hope for Tanzania.

 

“All good corporate citizens and the donor community, in collaboration with the national Government, have both the responsibility and the opportunity to make sure that the primitive use of such cooler boxes fast becomes exactly what it must be – and that is, history. We at NBC are honoured to have pioneered this noble idea of Mobile Clinics in Tanzania, thanks to NBC’s visionary management, under the able leadership of out-going and highly successful Managing Director, Gerald Jordaan. Our vision is to have more NBC Mobile Clinics covering the whole of Tanzania, especially remote and rural areas where communities have limited or no access at all to health centers, hospitals or clinics. But we cannot do it alone. If we all join hands together, we can realize this dream,” said Pirikisi.