24 private docs screen 13,224 in Dharavi

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has roped in private doctors to screen suspected coronavirus patients in Dharavi, India’s largest slum which is seeing

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has roped in private doctors to screen suspected coronavirus patients in Dharavi, India’s largest slum which is seeing a rise in cases. The area saw one more death and six more positive cases which brought the toll to 5 and case count to 49.

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In the past three days, a team of 24 private doctors has screened 13,224 people and identified 113 suspected cases and sent samples of 85 for laboratory test, said a BMC official. “We have started to take help of private doctors to screen high- and low-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients. Twenty-four private doctors came forward and screened more than 13,000 people in just three days,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of the G-North Ward. “The civic body has provided 55 PPE kits, 70 masks, 70 gloves and 18 infrared thermometers to them.”

Thirty-five civic and 10 police staffers are assisting the doctors who are carrying out the screening in Mukund Nagar, Muslim Nagar, Kalyanwadi, Social Nagar and Madina Nagar. A 60-year-old male resident of Nehru Chawl died at Sion hospital on Monday.

The BMC has marked 29 containment zones and six red zones in the area. The civic body has so far quarantined 2,184 residents and tested all 138 high-risk contacts and 3,450 low-risk contacts of the patients. They are being provided with essential supplies such as food and medicines.