Setting an example for others to follow, Bhoyare Khurd, a village in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district has become Covid-19 pandemic free. It is no magic as the village and its residents adopted the method of creating public awareness, following Covid-appropriate behaviour, regular health check-ups and ensuring that the infected persons are isolated, all to eventually become COVID-free.
Some achievement it is, considering that the whole country is battling against this pandemic.
One can only hazard a guess that people of Bhoyare Khurd were motivated by the case of Hivare Bazaar, again another district in Ahmednagar which was free of Coronavirus recently due to the efforts of its Sarpanch Padma Shri Popatrao Pawar.
Bhoyare Khurd is a small village with a population of 1,500 people has through the collective efforts of its residents demonstrated that with will power and team effort they can reduce COVID-19 to zero, thereby making their entire Corona free.
The moment three to four Covid-19 cases were detected in the village, the Gram Panchayat and the Health Department swung into action. They started conducting antigen tests for families with infected patients and moving the suspects and symptomatic persons immediately into isolation.
This detection and testing was followed with the villagers taking upon themselves some initiatives to ensure that their village becomes Corona free.
All the families in the village got themselves checked from time to time with assistance from the Accredited Social Health Activist and Anganwadi workers, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines.
Dr. Savita Kute who was an integral part of this work informed: “If symptoms like fever, cough or fatigue were observed, such people were immediately subjected to Antigen test and kept in isolation.”
Going beyond this, simultaneously, a widespread awareness campaign was launched in the village temples where loudspeakers were placed to convey messages about Covid appropriate behaviours norms every morning and evening.
Through this the villagers were informed about the disease and how to take care of themselves and their families under the prevailing pandemic situation.
Covid appropriate behaviour messages like wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands frequently, regular health check-ups and isolation of people, were reiterated repeatedly to help people understand and follow them.
Following the State-wide lockdown, Bhoyare Khurd Gram Panchayat took upon itself to implement the “Gaon Band” initiative to check the spread of Covid.
Giving details, the Sarpanch Rajendra Ambekar said, suspected persons were persuaded to stay in an isolation centre set up in the village. This greatly helped in breaking the chain and leading the way to the village becoming Corona-free by the month of May.
“If other villages follow the example of our village, it will not take long for them to become free from Covid-19,” observed Ambekar.
Elaborating on the challenges faced during this campaign, Gram Sevak Nand Kishore Devkar said: “Initially it was very difficult to convince village people to stay away from their families. But gradually, they understood the threat and it became easy for us to quarantine the infected persons.”
Located at a distance of about 20 kilometres away from Ahmednagar city, Bhoyare Khurd is situated in a hilly belt. The area being drought-stricken, many villagers have migrated to Mumbai and other big cities in search of employment. However, after the State Government imposed a lockdown, most of the workers have come back to their native village.
