Citi India (Citi) and Jaslok Hospital & Research Center (Jaslok Hospital) today announced a vaccination drive, Ummeed, for low-income individuals, eligible for their first or second dosage of Covishield. Together, Citi and Jaslok Hospital aim to inoculate 100,000 citizens for free under thiscollaboration, one of the largest of its kind, in Dharavi.
The drive commenced in Asia’s largest slum under the banner, Ummeed Dharavi ke liye, on July 27, 2021. Vaccinations at Dharavi will be administered between 9.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m., Monday through Saturday (with Sundays being a weekly holiday) by the doctors and nurses of Jaslok Hospital.
Sharing his thoughts, Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre CEO Jitendra Haryan said, “It is an honor to collaborate with Citi to host a vaccination drive that also supports the underprivileged, differently abled and elderly, immunizing them against COVID-19. As a part of Citi’s CSR program, ‘Ummeed’, Jaslok Hospital and Citi will vaccinate 1 lakh citizens over the course of the next couple of months. We are extremely proud to be associated with this noble deed of aiding the nation’s combat against COVID-19. We urge everyone to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest and do their bit in helping India emerge victorious against the pandemic.”
For this drive, and for further vaccination drives, the low-income communities are being identified by non-profits and supported by the municipal authorities.
These non-profits are also educating the communities on COVID-19 and the vaccinations, as well as guiding them through the registration process on the CoWIN app.
“An important part of India’s recovery is in supporting its immediate-to-long term healthcare needs amidst the pandemic. This program, which forms a part of Citi’s CSR commitment, is our endeavor to help raise Mumbai’s vaccination efforts for all citizens. Citi is extremely thankful to Jaslok Hospital and local government authorities for their collaboration in this vaccination drive,” said Citi India CEO Ashu Khullar.
Jaslok Hospital has always been at the forefront when it comes to reaching out to all sections of community. It has been a part of several large vaccination drives at corporates and housing societies; this program is part of Jaslok Hospital’s focus on serving the less fortunate, a very important mission for them.
“Citi’s conviction that ‘we are safe if all of us are safe,’ led to the inception of this program, Ummeed. We thank the Jaslok Hospital team and the local municipal authorities in making this conviction a reality. We share a collective responsibility with the government to ensure the less fortunate are administered vaccines at safe and accessible locations within their communities at the earliest,” said Citi South Asia Head for Global Public Affairs Debasis Ghosh.
Further locations are being identified in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai by Citi and Jaslok Hospital, in collaboration with local municipal authorities. Each vaccination center is proposed to be at a location that is easily visible to the surrounding communities and easy to access for the elderly and the specially abled.
Amidst the pandemic in India, Citi has supported 115,076 RT-PCR tests across 15 government hospitals across Maharashtra under Phase I of Project Ummeed. Citi also invested in six startups incubated by Society for Innovation and Development, founded by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, which are developing a range of solutions such as instant testing kits, drones for disinfecting large areas and crowd-control support, hand-held inflammation devices, mobile testing vans and a vaccine amongst others.
