Mid-day Impact: Worli Koliwada gets back its dispensary

Construction work on in full swing to set up a temporary dispensary. Pic/Courtesy Dhanpal Solanki Jain

Two days after mid-day reported about how Worli Koliwada was robbed of medical care after a 60-year-old structure housing a civic dispensary was demolished in August, the BMC moved on a war footing to reopen the facility. Residents told mid-day that construction activity had begun and furniture and fixtures have arrived at the old municipal school ground in Varas Lane.

A health official at one of the temporary cabins that has started functioning as a dispensary for the residents. Pic/Courtesy Hemangi Worlikar

Activist-advocate Sharad Koli, who had threatened legal action, thanked mid-day and said, "Construction has begun and by Saturday afternoon, the dispensary started functioning from a container. Eight of the 15 staff who were transferred temporarily to Prabhadevi, including a doctor, were called back to Koliwada, and eight patients were treated."

Aaditya intervenes

Koli said the containers were lying unused for weeks and residents did not know what they were for. "They were left with no choice but to go to expensive private doctors," he said. "And the Prabhadevi dispensary is far from Koliwada, which left many senior citizens and women to opt for home remedies or over-the-counter medicines. It is only after mid-day published the story that the local ward office and the health officials swung into action."

Furniture and fittings arrive at the temporary facility on Saturday

Advocate Dhanpal Solanki Jain joined in, "I sincerely thank mid-day for taking up this vital issue. I happened to meet Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray at an event, and I showed him the mid-day report. He assured immediate action and the next day, work started."

Three-storey replacement

Hemangi Worlikar, former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator, promised to follow up with the civic authorities so that construction work for a new three-storey welfare centre with in-house dispensary and a laboratory begins at the original site. "At present, Koliwada does not even have a BMC-run school. A file has been sent for CRZ clearance. The proposed school work can start where the temporary containers are now."

Santosh Kumar Dhonde, Assistant Municipal Commissioner G/South Ward, said, "We have made temporary arrangements using the PORTA cabins for the residents and some shifting work was done on Saturday."

Dr Virendra Mohite, Medical Officer of Health, G/South Ward, confirmed civil work began on Saturday. "Potable water connection, electric wiring, lights, fans and air conditions for the PORTA cabins, toilet work, laying of sewage line, compound wall, fencing and main gate are priority, which should be completed in a week," he assured.

BMC workers set up furniture inside a make-shift cabin from where the temporary dispensary started functioning on Saturday

Asked if funding was sanctioned, he said the work is being done by the G/South Engineering and Electrical Department, so there is no inconvenience to residents. On the construction of a new building, Dr Mohite, said, "The plan is being made by municipal architects and I won't be able to comment at this moment."

Need round-the-clock care

Residents have also requested that the dispensary be kept open till 10 pm, as working professionals come home late. "We recently had a huge number of malaria, dengue, typhoid and jaundice cases, which makes round-the-clock dispensaries a necessity here," said advocate Dhanpal.

Explaining the PORTA cabins, Dr Mohite said, "Of the 15 staff who were shifted to Prabhadevi, including a doctor and pharmacist, eight were recalled. The dispensary will function from 9 am to 4 pm and after recruiting additional manpower in two shifts - 9 am to 4 pm and 4 pm to 10 pm. We intend to make all four PORTA cabins functional in a week.

Two will be for the dispensary, one half will be converted to a pathology laboratory, and an outsourced diagnostic centre will deploy their team and conduct all the 150 pathology tests. The remaining two cabins will be used as health centres - where immunisation and DOTS programmes, etc. will be done."