Mumbai: New civic chief checks scene at Nair hospital, Dharavi, warns of surprise visits

MUMBAI: After taking charge as municipal commissioner amid the Covid-19 pandemic, IAS officer Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday hit the ground, visiting BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central and later proceeding to Dharavi, where he took stock of the increasing patients in Asia's largest slum pocket.
Chahal, a 1989 batch IAS officer, took charge around 9.30pm on Friday. Praveen Pardeshi, who he replaced, did not visit the civic headquarters to officially hand over charge to him.

After reaching the civic headquarters on Saturday, Chahal and a team of civic officials, including additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani, who is in-charge of the health department, visited Nair hospital. "There, the commissioner and doctors donned personal protection equipment (PPE) and interacted with patients regarding services there. The food the patients are being served was checked," said a civic official.

The official added that he was later given a presentation regarding the Covid-19 situation at the hospital, which has 531 beds for patients. "Discussions were held on how infrastructure could be upgraded. The administration is trying to double bed capacity at Nair hospital," the official said.

Chahal then visited G north ward office, under which Dharavi falls, and took an update on the increasing Covid-19 patients in the area. Dharavi has reported 833 positive cases. Along with a team from the ward office, he proceeded to Dharavi to take stock of the situation on the ground, especially if the lockdown was being followed, more so in containment zones.

He interacted with doctors from private clinics and told them to immediately shift patients to institutional quarantine facilities if they noticed coronavirus-like symptoms.

At Dharavi, he also visited institutional quarantine centres and checked if community toilets were being sanitized regularly.

In the evening, he told ward officers to work on the ground and ensure that patients are directed to the right facilities. This came following many complaints of hospital beds not being available. He also said he would undertake surprise visits to various areas and told ward officials to stay alert.

Meanwhile, two IAS officers took charge as additional municipal commissioners on Saturday. Former Thane municipal chief Sanjeev Jaiswal replaced A L Jarhad and former Mumbai Metro chief Ashwini Bhide replaced Jayashree Bhoj, who had taken charge only in February.