Dharavi had become a national hotspot for Covid-19 and later it turned as a success story in such a grand-way that WHO mentioned that this model should is exemplary to all
Mumbai: In recent times, Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum grabbed headlines after it recorded a rising number of COVID-19 infection. But with the measures taken by the BMC, state government and by the people themselves, Dharavi has written its own success story. In the process, it has set out a potential model to be followed by other State Governments and other countries in the world struggling to cope with the pandemic. In a pandemic, people thought that only possibility of getting out the virus from the largest slum in Dharavi is by evacuating it however the negativity around was beaten up by the residents.
Sandeep Chhabra, Executive Director of Action Aid Association India in a webinar highlighted two Asia specific countries- Socialist Republic of Vietnam and New Zealand have bravely fought with coronavirus and come to normalcy. These countries have become role models and similarly, Dharavi has actively chased the virus and recently was appreciated for commendable work by the World Health Organization. The webinar seeks to share the story of how Dharavi has transformed from being a “challenge” of curbing the spread of COVID-19 infection in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, into a “model” for the rest of Mumbai city, different states of India and other countries of the world.
In Pandemic crisis an NGO has been reaching out in Dharavi to around 15,500 individuals with dry ration and direct cash transfer to over 200 individual bank accounts. The webinar seeks to share the story of how Dharavi has transformed from being a “challenge” of curbing the spread of COVID-19 infection in one of the world’s most densely populated areas, into a “model” for the rest of Mumbai city, different states of India and other countries of the world. Dharavi- Asia’s largest slum is a learning lesson for other slums in countries like Latin America and Africa.
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Dr Neelam Gorhe, former deputy chairperson and MLC of Maharashtra Legislative Council said in the discussion that Dharavi has been part of many social redevelopments and has also faced epidemic in early days. “Dharavi is a reflection of India, as people from different states of the country with multi-lingual thus have multi-layered issues. The slum houses almost one million population. People use public toilets, and physical distancing is not possible at all due to the congested area. The strategy followed together was of 4Ts Tracing, Tracking, Testing and Treating for Dharavi. And also with the possibility of effective home quarantine institutional quarantine centres methods were used to deal with isolation for asymptomatic patients.”
The measures adopted and strictly followed include screening more than 7,00,0000 people, checking temperatures and oxygen levels for more than 47,000 households, setting up fever clinics, absolute containment zones and shifting potential cases to quarantine centres set up in nearby schools and sports clubs. All these measures have resulted in cases dropping to one third and with death rate being the lowest ever. In the days to come, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation plans to screen 25, 00,000 people for possible coronavirus exposure.
It is the result of community, social will not the political will that is re-shaping Dharavi in a pandemic. The food packets were provided to people as its commercial hub of Mumbai, people live in at their workplace. The volunteers were engaged in large numbers so people do not come out in search of food amid lockdown The pro-active step to conduct door-to-door screening to chase the virus helped in tracing more and more patients however at the same time it helped in treating them too.
