Short of hands, BBMP looks for Covid volunteers

Officials need help with swab collection  
With lockdown lifted, daily wage workers resume work in Bengaluru |  Pandarinath B
With lockdown lifted, daily wage workers resume work in Bengaluru | Pandarinath B

BENGALURU: The Health Department and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have requested citizens to volunteer and join the work of collecting swab samples, as departments concerned are facing a staff crunch and there is an urgent need to increase testing. 

At present, 140 primary health centres and fever clinics, 16 private labs and 15 mobile clinics are collecting swabs. Every day, 11,000 samples are being tested, but now the government wants to increase it to 20,000. “Since the target has been increased, more hands are needed on the ground. That’s why we’ve requested citizens to help,” BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad told The New Indian Express. 

Citizens can volunteer not just in Bengaluru, but across the state, said a senior health department official.
Prasad said that workers are struggling with the workload now and with plans to add 100 more testing facilities, additional hands will come as a boon.

Officials said that many graduates, fresh of out college, who have not been able to find jobs due to the pandemic, can join as volunteers. Apart from an honorarium, the work will also keep them occupied and give them a sense of purpose, they added. 

The BBMP is working on roping in volunteers who had worked with the Bengaluru City Police during the lockdown. Prasad said, “We need volunteers not just for swab collection and policing, but also testing, data collection and entry, contact tracing, quarantine centre coordination and war room duties.” The commissioner said that even during his first press conference, he had pointed out that despite orders from the chief secretary, many government officials are not coming forward to do  Covid-related work.

This was conveyed to the chief secretary during a meeting on Tuesday night, he added. Citizen-volunteers are better because of their knowledge on localities and communities. They can interact with locals, break stigmas and spread awareness. A health department official told TNIE that there have been many instances of ASHA and health workers being attacked by locals when they were on sample collection or door-to-door survey duty, but when the task is given to people from the same community, such incidents can be curbed. 

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The New Indian Express
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