Mumbai: Communities step forward to push back Covid-19

The Pawan Dham Jain temple centre at Borivli is open to members from all communities. Pics/Satej Shinde

Joining the fight against the Coronavirus, religious communities across the city have opened their hearts and purses to provide affordable or free treatment. They have set up facilities equipped with beds, oxygen, medicines and offer hygienic food to hundreds of asymptomatic patients from their tribes. mid-day visited a few such centres on Sunday to get a closer view of these community-centric initiatives.

Staff at work at the Madni isolation centre at Momin Nagar, Jogeshwari, on Sunday

The Jain community has started a Covid-19 facility at Pawan Dham Jain temple at Borivali, while the Momin (Cheliyas) members have converted a primary school into a care centre at Momin Nagar society of Jogeshwari. These two centres have so far treated over 2,000 patients with zero deaths. Both centres are run on a no-profit-no-loss basis. They charge between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000. They also offer pick-up and drop services and shift serious patients to other hospitals.

During the first wave of Covid-19, Pawan Dham centre had 127 oxygen beds. They have added 75 such beds this time. About 25 beds are reserved for policemen free of cost.

Trustee Nirav Doshi said, "Shri Namramuni Maharaj Saheb converted Pawandham Jain temple into a Covid-19 facility after he learnt about people's struggle in getting beds and private hospitals charging lakhs of rupees." Doshi said they took the help of MP Gopal Shetty and Apex hospital in setting up the temple centre. "Here 50 Apex staff including doctors are helping us with the treatment."

For the patients at Pawan Dham, breakfast includes tea, kadha and biscuits. Fruits arrive at 10 am, followed by soup at 11 am. Lunch comprises dal, rice, vegetables and sweets. Sometimes we also give pav bhaji, Italian food, Gujrati thali and khichdi kadhi. They get light food and tea in the evening and golden milk after dinner," said Doshi.

Jain spiritual leader Namramuni Maharaj Saheb has also started a Covid-19 centre at Ghatkopar with the help of MLA Parag Shah, and in Rajkot, Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Kolkata.

"A patient has to WhatsApp us the Covid-19 positive report. We then consult with our team of doctors and admit the patient. Our centres are open to all communities. Earlier, we would charge Rs 1,000 a day, but now we are charging Rs 3,000 per day," said the trustee.

Momin Nagar facility

The Momin Nagar facility, run by Momin (Cheliyas), near Jogeshwari railway station is known as Madni Isolation centre. The community came forward for the cause after it lost 2-3 members, who could not get beds, last year.

Sajid Mukhi who took the lead in setting up the centre said there are 850 families in their society and the members were anxious after last year's tragedies. "We launched an awareness drive to help members overcome the fear of Covid-19 and started a fever clinic at the school in our society. We converted it into an isolation centre in July 2020," he said.

Mohammed Umar Munshi said, "Four doctors from our community are working day and night for free. We have also hired 9 nurses, 3 maids and 2 ward boys."

"We recently treated 45 poor patients with ‘zakat' and ‘sadka'. The money was donated by our community members. Whenever there is a need to shift a patient to a big hospital, they come forward to chip in," said Munshi.

The centre has taken care of over 350 patients so far. "There are many people who went to their native place in Gujarat and got infected there. When they could not get treatment there, they came here," said Mukhi.

Community member Numan Patel said the centre doesn't have ICU units. "We take in serious patients if they need only oxygen and do not get admission in other hospitals." Salim Dayla, Saeed Seliya and Adil Arodiya are among those active members. Dr Aslam Patelowala, Dr Rehan Bhoraniya and resident doctors Rizwan Patel and Arshad Sunasra are working tirelessly for the centre.

Dawoodi Bohra war room

The Dawoodi Bohra community has set up a war room at Saifee Burhani Upliftment Project office in Bhendi Bazar to help people with beds, oxygen, ration and medicines. A 60-member team is providing advice and care to patients. The war room also finds burial places for those felled by Covid-19.

In Bandra, the Bhamla Foundation has embarked upon a similar initiative. Its war room has five people. A functionary said, "Apart from medical help, the main focus of the foundation is to provide ration kits in slums for daily-wagers."