Updated May 22nd, 2021 at 08:49 IST

25 one-rupee clinics at Mumbai Railway stations to offer COVID treatment from June 1

Mumbai: 25 one-rupee clinics will start providing Covid related like RT PCR test, antigen test, blood test, antibody test, CT Scan, consultation, treatment

IMAGE: PTI/onerupeeclinic | Image:self
Advertisement

In a boost to Mumbai's COVID battle, the city's 25 one-rupee clinics will start providing  Covid related services such as RT PCR test, antigen test, blood test, antibody test, CT Scan, consultation and medication from June 1, reported sources on Saturday. These clinics which are located at local train stations across Mumbai will be classified as Covid clinics to provide treatment at affordable rates. Mumbai, which is currently seeing a dip in COVID cases, has 6,95,080 cases of which 29,103 are active and 6,49,389 have recovered. 14,522 people have succumbed to COVID-19.

What is a one-rupee clinic?

The one-rupee clinic is a medical venture taken up by Magicdil in association with the Central railways which has introduced these clinics at major local railway stations in Mumbai. Qualified MBBS doctors provide consultation and health checkups at the cost of Re 1. While quality healthcare is expensive, these clinics aim to reduce the gap between affordable and quality healthcare by providing access to qualified doctors 24x7.

Mumbai's declining COVID trend

On Thursday, Mumbai reported 1,425 new COVID- 19 cases and 59 fresh fatalities, the city civic body said. This was the second day in a row when Mumbai witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases after reporting a three-digit infection count (953) on May 18. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted so far increased to 59,86,344 after 29,391 samples were examined in the last 24 hours, the data showed.

As many as 1,460 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the recovered cases to 6,47,623, the civic body said. According to the BMC, Mumbai has 29,525 active COVID- 19 cases and its recovery rate stood at 93 per cent. The city's average growth rate of COVID-19 cases for the period between May 13 and May 19 was 0.23 per cent, while the case doubling rate was 297 days. Mumbai has 73 active containment zones in slums and 'chawls' (old row tenements), while the number of sealed buildings (where a certain number of residents have tested positive for coronavirus) dipped to 276.

Facing acute vaccine shortage, the BMC has stalled vaccinating 18-44-year-olds. Moreover, the city civic body has issued a global Expression of Interest (EoI) to procure one crore COVID-19 vaccines. With not a single bid or query filed for BMC's EOI by any supplier, the civic body extended the deadline till May 25. Those answering the EoI must have valid licences to manufacture the vaccine as well as authorisation to export it to India, while the doses must be as per ICMR and DCGI norms. BMC currently has 20 hospitals and 240 centres where doses are being administered.

Advertisement

Published May 22nd, 2021 at 08:49 IST