President of Sanofi Pasteur Seoul office Ranga Welaratne, second from left, hands out winter kits to homeless people as part of the company’s Helping Hands campaign at a shelter in Seoul, Oct 21, 2011. / Courtesy of Sanofi Pasteur

President eager to leave footprint in Korea, root for policy changes

By Noh Hyun-gi

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities make the most difference when they utilize a firm’s specialty and ambition for recognition, and cater to the most neglected group in society.

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of global pharmaceutical Sanofi Aventis, is marking its presence in the country’s capital by hitting all the right notes.

Since last October, it is standing by the abandoned and unregistered of Seoul by providing free flu and pneumococcal vaccines.

Titled Helping Hands, the project offers the shots, basic medical checkups and winter kits to homeless shelters in Seoul. To make this a continuous endeavor, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with local government

“Naturally, we wanted to stick to our area of expertise, vaccines, and so in this kind of program, we wanted to try to increase access to vaccines, focusing on those who would benefit the most,” said Ranga Welaratne, president of the Seoul branch, at his office in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Tuesday.

On Oct. 13, 2011, the pharmaceutical employees as well as members of Seoul City Council and Seoul Medical Society gathered 2,500 homeless at three locations in the capital. Then, systematically, the volunteers injected the shots, examined basic health indicators such as blood pressure and handed out mufflers and gloves for the winter.



“Given that we were approaching winter at the time, we naturally thought of the homeless who are left exposed to the elements. During the winter, colds and flu are common illnesses, and fortunately we have a vaccine that protects against the flu. In addition to that, we also have a pneumococcal vaccine which is typically given at the same time,” Welaratne said.

Thought the company could not gauge the public and social sectors’ reaction to bolster homeless people’s health, a rather foreign task, the result was better than expected. Sanofi Pasteur is finalizing contracts with homeless shelters and the Big Issue, a street newspaper sold by the homeless.

“It was such a unique idea and we really saw the benefit of it because we helped to prevent severe diseases in high risk individuals during winter. All was extremely well organized, and when I think back to how cold it was this winter, I am very proud of what was achieved,” Welaratne recalled.

The Sri Lanka-born native is adamant to make this an ongoing effort. The program reflects not only the rising commitment for CSR from the private sector but also the director’s personal principles. On the outbreaks of 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear plant failure, he packed his bags for a “vacation.”

“It’s normal that we are moved emotionally by the images of pain and suffering. In my case, I’m a hands-on, practical type of person, and so I feel that my best contribution is to give time and get physically involved in doing something,” he said.

Welaratne, who started his career as a strategy consultant, understands the difficulties of promoting preventive medicine in our society. As people are more accustomed to treating an illness after it occurs. This tendency calls for an active policy approach.

“Think about polio as an example – it’s been eradicated in Korea and now no one even talks about it. But it doesn’t mean that the threat has gone, so we cannot allow anyone to get complacent about getting vaccinated. This is also the reason why I am supportive of the industry working with government. The government also plays a key role in raising the importance of vaccination in the mind of the general public.”

The challenge of awareness comes with a wide-open business market. The strategy consultant-turned-executive pointed out that unlike other specialties within medicine, prevention methods can target everyone.

“We are not talking about a particular therapeutic area or particular sickness. You don’t need to be sick to get vaccination. Vaccination comes one step earlier. Therefore, the vaccine market is for everyone.”

In his second year in Korea, the Australia-trained president is in awe of the speed of life here. He has worked in the Australian, Chinese and French branches of Sanofi Pasteur. “Compared to the places I have worked, Korea has the fastest pace! People are so much about getting things done; Korea is not just doing things fast, they are doing them faster and better.”