BPL (Below Poverty Line) beneficiaries stand in the queue while maintaining social distancing to collect their ration in Bhubaneswar (ANI)

BHUBANESWAR: Beginning Tuesday, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will launch a massive surveillance to check the health status of around two lakh slum dwellers in the city to see if anyone is infected with novel coronavirus and take appropriate measures to deal with it. The BMC has decided to engage at least 1000 Anganwadi and Asha workers as well as members of Mahila Arogya Samiti (MAS) to carry out the survey.

The workers will be sent to each household in the slum localities to check the health status of slum-dwellers twice a week. Based on their health status, the BMC will be able to decide proper intervention strategies. The city has around 536 slum clusters.

BMC deputy commissioner Subhendu Sahu said 350 Anganwadi workers have been roped in for the job. “The field workers will visit each household. They will note down the details of the family, including recent travel history, chronic diseases and existing flu-like symptoms. The teams will be provided with safety gears such as gloves, masks and sanitisers,” said Sahu.

BMC officials said Anganwadi workers have already received training as to how to conduct the survey and record the health status of each household. “The Asha and Mas members will accompany the Anganwadi workers. Once they complete the health enumeration, they will prepare a report and submit it to the child development project officer (CDPO). For 200 household, one Anganwadi worker will be deployed and to oversee the survey, three CDPOs have been asked to coordinate with the field personnel,” said a BMC officer.

Most of the domestic maids, vendors, drivers and other blue-collar workers stay in slums where the houses are tightly packed. In case of an epidemic, such areas can become vulnerable.

“The lockdown has greatly helped us to contain the spread of the virus in slum areas. Till now, thankfully, no one has been reported positive of Covid-19 from these areas,” Sahu added.

