Shagufta Sayyed, Community Health Educator for Mumbai’s COVID-19 Intervention, demonstrating handwashing steps as part of COVID-19 health promotion, infection and prevention activities. © Premananda Hessenkamp
The Doctors Without Borders Health Educators are in the informal settlement rehabilitation colony in MEast Ward, Mumbai, to create awareness about COVID-19 © Premananda Hessenkamp
The team is working six days a week in eight-hour shifts. The conditions are not easy in the treatment centre. They’re tents, and inside it’s very hot. Add to that the fact that the team are kitted out in PPE with face masks and gloves and everything else, and it’s a tough environment.Mabel Morales, Medical Coordinator
The situation is terrible, but the commitment and the dedication of the staff is extraordinary. There is a very strong feeling of solidarity in the team. People are so committed to helping the patients.
No one was ready for the second wave. It caught everybody by surprise. In a very short time, it’s turned into a major crisis. It’s so much worse this time and it was so sudden. Doctors Without Borders had concluded its support to COVID centre in Mumbai in mid-February as we had hardly any cases. But we kept the community activities going and kept in contact with the people who had worked for us the first time.
Shagufta Sayyed, Community Health Educator for Mumbai’s COVID-19 Intervention, demonstrating handwashing steps as part of COVID-19 health promotion, infection and prevention activities. © Premananda Hessenkamp
We’re doing a lot of work at the community level and are focused on vulnerable people and people with chronic health conditions and with HIV. People’s living conditions are very challenging. How do you talk about isolation or social distancing when you have a whole family of eight people living in one room with no ventilation? How do you talk about the need to wash hands regularly when so many people have no easy access to water? How do you institute preventative measures in a situation like that? A lot of the key messages about avoiding transmission just don’t work in these situations.
The needs here are so great and what Doctors Without Borders is doing is just a small part. But it’s important for us to be here. Staff from other hospitals are coming to us to take part in the trainings and we’re able to support them and share what we know. We all feel a strong sense of solidarity with our patients and with the staff. I feel that we’re in the right place and we’re all working together. It’s hard work, but I’m happy to be part of it.Mabel Morales, Medical Coordinator
