MUMBAI: The Dharavi area in Mumbai has become a global role model in the containment of coronavirus, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday after the civic body's efforts won praise from the WHO.
Instead of waiting for patients to come to hospitals, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) screened people in Dharavi pro-actively which helped, a senior official said.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference on Friday that there were places around the world where the initial intense outbreak was brought under control.
"And some of these examples are Italy, Spain and South Korea, and even in Dharavi - a densely packed area in the megacity of Mumbai," he said.
The area, known as the largest slum of Asia, was a big worry when the pandemic began as over 6 lakh people live there on a patch of land measuring just 2.5 sq km.
Thackeray said Dharavi showed that coronavirus can be contained through self-discipline and community efforts.
82 per cent of patients in Dharavi have recovered, bringing down the number of active cases to 166, he noted.
"Dharavi is an inspiration for the world on how to curb the spread of a pandemic," he said in a statement, lauding the BMC, private doctors, NGOs and local residents.
Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the G North ward, told PTI that the civic body did not wait for patients to come to hospital.
Instead healthcare workers went from door to door to look for potential patients.
"Proactive screening helped in early detection, timely treatment and recovery," he said.
The number of coronavirus patients in the area rose by only 12 to 2,359 on Friday.
As per the BMC, while in April the doubling rate of cases was 18 days, it is now 430 days.
At least six lakh local residents were screened, 14,000 persons were tested and 13,000 were placed in institutional quarantine with free medical facilities and community kitchen service, Dighavkar said.
Taming the virus in an area where families of eight to 10 people live in 10x10 rooms and social distancing is impossible was not easy.
"At least 80 per cent of Dharavi's population depends on 450 community toilets. We had to sanitise and disinfect these toilets several times a day," Dighavkar said.
Apart from slum pockets, Dharavi is also home to numerous leather, pottery and textile manufacturing units.
The area has 5,000 GST-registered enterprises, 15,000 single-room factories and is a hub of international exports with an annual turnover of 1 billion USD.
Special attention was given to senior citizens; 8,246 of them were surveyed.
"We mobilised all private practitioners. At least 24 private doctors came forward and the civic body provided them with PPE kits, thermal scanners, pulse oxymetres, masks, gloves, and started door-to-door screening in high risk zones and all suspects were identified," he said.
Later, all medical practitioners were asked to open their clinics and alert the civic body about suspected patients, he said, adding that beds in private hospitals were also acquired.
"Under the guidance of municipal commissioner I S Chahal, a 200-bed hospital was set up in record 14 days with oxygen supply," Dighavkar said.
There was a strict enforcement of lockdown in the containment zones.
Only critical patients were shifted to hospitals outside Dharavi; 90 per cent were treated in Dharavi itself, he added.
Local community leaders were appointed as "Covid yoddhas" (warriors) to help with the mammoth effort.
Grocery kits and food packets were distributed in containment zones to prevent the movement of people and this helped in a big way.
"We partnered with citizens to chase the virus from one of the most populous blocks of the city. With your guidelines and community efforts, we will beat COVID-19 one block at a time,"the BMC tweeted in response to the WHO's praise.