RCB Leads The Way In The Fight Against Novel Coronavirus

At the time of writing this report, India has 11,201 active cases of the Novel Coronavirus which have resulted in 437 deaths. The silver lining is that 1,748 people have been cured and the death rate in India is amongst the lowest in the world.

Being a highly infectious virus and seeing the global carnage due to its effect, the WHO declared the situation as a Pandemic. Consequently, the Government of India initially announced a 21-day lockdown till April 14th, 2020 and which has now been extended to May 3rd, 2020 in the whole of India.

This is a unique situation and most of the population has never witnessed anything like this ever before in their lifetimes. A lockdown brings with it several challenges for people across all spectrums. Some of them being that:

• Daily wage earners suddenly face a crisis of being jobless, unable to earn and, as a result, struggling for their daily survival.
• Healthcare sector struggles to cope with the onslaught and its people as well as infrastructure come under serious strain.
• People are forced to stay indoors and accessibility to daily essentials becomes a challenge.
• The entire supply chain gets disrupted and industry and consumers are left high and dry.
• The need for hygiene and sanitation to curb the spread of this virus.
• Not to forget the mental health that needs to be taken care of as well.
• Huge loss of business for most people and a huge dent in the economy.

Realising the enormity of the challenge, the Rotary Club of Bombay decided to step up to the forefront as it always has done throughout its glorious 91-year-old history. To tackle the menace of the Novel Coronavirus, RCB focused on five areas as below.

A team of sincere and committed Rotarians comprising of President Preeti Mehta, Past President Sandip Agarwalla, Immediate Past President Vijay Jatia, and President Elect Framroze Mehta has been carrying out the task at hand.

PROJECT #1: Mental Wellbeing

We have started a free wellbeing helpline with the assistance of our member Rtn. Prakriti Poddar to look after the mental health of the people. Over 600 volunteers have been enrolled and trained and more than 50 professional counsellors are onboard providing services in English, Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi daily 8 am to 8 pm to look after the mental health of people amidst this crisis. This is an area which is often overlooked and leads to all kinds of personal disasters and we believe that this is a very important intervention required in these highly stressful times.

Setting up a Counselling and Mental Wellbeing Helpline on a toll free number – WVU Collective

PROJECT #2: Distribution of Free Meals

This is a joint project with the Rotary Club of Mumbai Versova by which we are providing free cooked and packaged meals to migrant labourers, daily wage earners and homeless of Mumbai city. At the time of writing this report, we have provided nearly 3,50,000 meals since we started this project. From serving 10,000 meals a day we have ramped it up to 25,000 meals a day.

Our areas of intervention are all the 24 Wards of the Municipality of Greater Mumbai. We have established food kitchens through the length and breadth of Mumbai – some of the key areas being Andheri (East), Marine Drive, Lower Parel and Chembur. We plan to continue this project right till the end of the lockdown period. The cost of each meal is approximately

PROJECT #3: Donation of Medical Equipment

One of the other important areas of intervention identified by us has been healthcare infrastructure and more particularly the medical equipment needed by the healthcare professionals on the frontline. So we zeroed down on Ventilators, Bipap, Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs), N95 masks and Contactless Infra-Red Thermometers as the three most important needs. We have so far provided more than 41 Ventilators, 10 Bipaps, 1050 PPEs, 1150 N95 masks and 10 Contactless Infra-Red Thermometers to various hospitals across Mumbai City at an approximate cost of Rs. 1.5 crore.

• 30 PPEs and 1150 N95 masks delivered by RCB to Nair Dental Hospital. A further 2500 PPE sets are under order.
• 10 Contactless infra-red thermometers handed over to the Deputy Dean of Sion Hospital by Rotary Club of Bombay (courtesy Capgemini)
• Delivery and installation of 11 out of 41 Ventilators and delivery of another two ventilators, total of 13, have already been supplied to GoM
• Supply of 10 Bipap machines to GoM.
• And, one dialysis machine provided to Manor hospital upon request of RC Palghar.

PROJECT #4: Installation of handwash stations

As is already known, hand washing is a very important part of the battle against the Novel Coronavirus. However, there are several areas in and around Mumbai, where even access to a proper handwashing station is an enormous challenge. Therefore, as a first step we have installed three handwashing stations (HWS) in areas where a large footfall is recorded like vegetable markets etc in the Palghar District. The first HWS was installed by the Rotary Clubs of Bombay and Palghar on April 4th at Kelvaroad Gram Panchayat near vegetable market. We are happy to report that the handwashing stations are performing very well and the people of the area are extremely happy. A further seven handwash stations with the modified design ensuring social distancing and a foot pedal operation to conserve water and to maintain hygiene will be installed shortly.

Handwash Stations installed in Palghar District partnership with RC of Palghar

PROJECT #5: Distribution of Free Ration

In conjunction with YMCA and Helping Hands, the Rotary Club of Bombay has already distributed free ration bags to more than 850 families and smaller packages to 550 families. The ration bags contain a supply of daily staples such as wheat, rice, flour, cooking oil, etc.