Mumbai: Citi, Jaslok Hospital to vaccinate 1 lakh Dharavi residents

One lakh residents of Dharavi slum sprawl will get Covid-19 vaccines in the next two months under a drive announced by foreign bank Citi and privately-run Jaslok Hospital on Thursday.

Dharavi, one of the largest slum sprawls in the world, was one of the worst affected pockets in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The drive christened ”Ummeed Dharavi Ke Liye”, commenced on Tuesday and will see low-income earners from Dharavi getting inoculated at the hospital for six days a week within the slum sprawl by the Jaslok staff, as per a statement.

The low-income communities are being identified by non-profits and supported by the municipal authorities, it said. Citi’s head of global public affairs for south Asia Debasis Ghosh thanked Jaslok Hospital and the civic authorities and said the initiative has come out of the conviction of ”we are safe if all of us are safe”.

More locations are being identified in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by the two partners in collaboration with local municipal authorities, the statement said.

Citi had earlier supported 1.15 lakh RT-PCR tests in 15 government hospitals across Maharashtra under the Phase-I of the same project and has also invested in six startups incubated by Society for Innovation and Development, founded by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, developing pandemic-related ideas or innovations. Mid-Day