COVID-19: Bandhu Mobile Unit Screens 500 Migrant Workers in Kerala Every Day

KOCHI:
India’s pioneering mobile COVID-screening unit conducts medical test for an average of 500 migrant labourers who are the target group for the scheme launched earlier this month to control coronavirus in Kerala, authorities said today.

Launched by the National Health Mission (NHM) and Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID), the ‘Bandhu’ clinic has for the past ten days been visiting those pockets in Ernakulam district which have clusters occupied by workers from other states of the country.

The white mini-bus features the blue-painted word ‘Bandhu’, which means ‘friend’ in Bangla that is the language of West Bengal whose immigrants form the majority here. Equipped with modern medical equipment besides cameras, floodlights and a solar roof, the high-tech facility has a ten-member team of health workers who can speak in the immigrants’ mother tongues such as Hindi, Odiya, Assamese and Tamil besides Bangla.

Officials say they had planned to roll out a moving clinic for the state’s migrant labourers, and the outbreak of COVID-19 disease only hastened it. “We thought this was the right time to launch ‘Bandhu’ considering the spread of coronavirus,” said Dr Akhil Immanuel, coordinator of the mission in Ernakulam district. “Today, we facilitate check-up for 400 to 500 people daily. For verbal communication, we also get cooperation from those migrant workers who can speak Malayalam.”

Called ‘guest workers’ by the government, they are among the most vulnerable sections to contracting the disease. While Kerala is estimated to have no less than 30 lakh migrant labourers, the state has opened 4,600 relief centres for 1.45 lakh among them since last month-end following a nation-wide shutdown to combat the virus.

The Bandhu clinic reaches each pocket after giving its residents prior information. This is done by passing a message first to the local public health centre (PHC) and then to the guest workers around it.

‘Bandhu’ does not conduct check-ups inside it; instead the team pitches a clinic close to where the vehicle halts. “Those who are found to be showing symptoms of the disease will be referred to the PHC. From then on, the PHC will monitor the patient and follow up the cases,” revealed Dr Immanuel.

The 2013-launched NHM has its Arogya Keralam mission in the state focusing currently on combating COVID-19, while CMID is a four-year-old non-profit organisation working for social inclusion of migrants and other socially disadvantaged people of the country.