COVID-19 pandemic: Mumbai’s BEST praised by UN body for ‘unique approach’

Mumbai’s BEST has become the one and only body around the world to get recognised for its response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The UN agency praised BEST’s “unique approach in combating the virus” in an article titled ‘Health and Wellness at Work’ published in its annual journal. Impressed by the efforts of BEST, the UN agency will document the methods it adopted to fight the coronavirus pandemic, reported Mumbai Mirror.

ILO, which works to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for everyone, said the undertaking had integrated health testing for more than 40,000 employees since 2018 in order to reduce the stigma associated with HIV. This helped the BEST in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic as well, said the report citing the article.

The UN body acknowledged the COVID-19 response team set up by BEST and said it started antigen tests for all employees very early in the pandemic.

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“A telemonitoring severity score system was created, under which doctors with BEST monitored COVID-19 patients through five-minute calls periodically,” ILO said in the article.

The organization also mentioned the special call centre, set-up by BEST, for calling staff who had not reported for duty and/or were unwell, said the report. Under this model, it discusses six parameters with the staff. On the basis of the discussion, it would determine the degree of illness that the patient was suffering, as per the report.

The BEST has provided data as sought by the ILO on COVID-19, said Dr Anil Singhal, chief medical officer, BEST. These will now be documented and published along with methods used to control the spread of novel coronavirus, Dr Singhal was quoted as saying.