Mumbai: The first two months of the novel Covid19 pandemic have been a nightmare for the citizens of M West ward (Chembur) as they were compelled to run from pillar to post to get themselves admitted. Many even died before getting admitted. The ward was labelled as one of the most worst-hit wards in the city. Not to forget the city's first Covid death was from this ward. And from day one, its death rate has been the highest in comparison with other wards.
But somehow sailing through the rough waters, Chembur has embraced the tag of one of the best wards in Mumbai, which have managed to contain the virus, to a certain extent.
Notably, the ward has, till date, recorded a total of 2307 patients of Covid-19, of whom 1,575 have recovered. It has also seen around 216 deaths. And only 516 patients are active and are presently under treatment.
In addition to these figures, the doubling rate has become over 60 days while the growth rate has been 1.1 per cent for the last few weeks.
Speaking on the "good trends" in the ward, assistant municipal commissioner Prithviraj Chavan said it has been a result of continuous efforts and teamwork. "We are happy that there have been better results of our collective efforts. Now, our recovered patients have surpassed the active ones. Even the containment zones have come down to 11 from 21," Chavan told the Free Press Journal.
According to Dr Bhupendra Patil, the medical health officer of M West ward, their policy of "early detection and immediate isolation" have been successful.
"From day one itself, we had brought in this policy, wherein any patient with high fever was brought in our centers and was isolated. Even Influenza like cases were brought in our Covid centers and their swabs were tested. This helped us to detect Covid at an earlier phase," Dr Patil said.
"The reason why we were categorized as a worst-hit ward was that there was no dedicated hospital to treat Covid patients in the initial stage. Patients from Chembur had two options, either Rajawadi or Sion hospitals, which were full. Thus, there were many who died because of no beds too," Patil added.
But now, the issue of beds exist no longer with private hospitals stepping in to treat Covid patients. "If I am not wrong, we have more than 40 per cent general ward beds, which are lying vacant. As far as ICU beds are concerned, on a daily basis, we have at least 25 beds vacant," said Dr Chavan, the AMC.
Another reason for better results in Chembur, according to Dr Patil, is that the virus has become weak due to herd immunity. "This concept is when the virus keeps transmitting from one body to the other and gets weaker with every new body. Because now the virus is not more virulent as it has reached peak and when it reaches the peak level it would reduce gradually. And that's what is happening in Chembur," he explained.
Slums have been game-changer?
It would not be out of place to mention that initially, over 65 per cent of the to ta Covid cases in Chembur were from slums with PL Lokhande Marg, Siddharth Colony, Thakkar Bappa, Sindhi Camp and Vashi Naka being the worst-hit areas. Surprisingly, the scenario has changed here because as on date, over 75% of the total cases are from high rises and only a few 20% patients are from the slums.
According to BJP's Asha Marathe, the local corporator, it is because of the slums that the ward has seen a better change. "In the initial stage, the slums were the hotspots in Chembur as people there were not cooperating with us. Most slum dwellers were reluctant to stay at quarantine centers and as a result they used to heckle civic officials," said Marathe.
"But now over time, people in slums have understood the threat this virus poses to their lives. They have started cooperating with the authorities. Also, the rigorous contact tracing and screening in slums have helped us bring down the numbers," Marathe added.
As per Dr Patil, now the hotspots like Lokhande Marg have become areas with hardly any numbers adding up to the total tally.
"It could be because of the host of facilities and measures we have undertaken such as sanitization of community toilets at least four times a day. The use of mobile toilets and rigorous testing and fever clinics," he said.
