Bandra’s first of its kind drive-through Covid-19 testing centre is now functional. The much-needed facility has been made possible through the collaboration of Suburban Diagnostics & Executive Enclave, Bandra. While the medical aspect is Suburban Diagnostics’ purview, the hotel management has come on board as a location partner. The means to book an appointment is completely online, and the process on ground takes less than 5 minutes. Once the appointment has been confirmed, a time slot is allotted. The entry point is through the gate on Dr Ambedkar road and the exit point is from the rear end on the 21st road. Started on the 28th of June, the drive centre has successfully conducted more than 450 tests so far.
Since the pandemic, there have been many accounts as to how a crisis can be turned to work in one’s favour, be it China’s aggression towards its neighbours or India’s recent streak of arresting students and activists. However, the conception of this drive-through testing centre is a unique case. Since the crisis in this scenario fulcrumed to work in favour of the community. Rahul & Monish Rohra, Managing Directors of Executive Enclave had a crisis on the personal front. On the 20th of May, 2020 the duo began showing symptoms of the virus. They had been on-ground since the hotel premises was made available for BMC & Police Personnel on Covid-19 duty. This level of exposure proved to be inimical and as soon as they realized the turn in events, they quickly took the necessary steps and decided to self – isolate in the hotel. They were in contact with doctors & family through video communication and recovered through (virtually supervised) self-care. A week later they had recuperated. Although they assumed and had specific symptoms pertaining to the infection, they still wanted to be certain.
After a considerable amount of research and frantic calling, they finally booked an appointment at a drive-through centre. However, to get the test done they had to travel all the way to South Mumbai. This was ironical because Bandra being Bandra, and given the amenities it leverages, we didn’t have a single centre as such. Furthermore, this method is considered by many experts as one of the safest as well. The test results cleared all doubts, but on the brighter side, they were indeed on the road towards recovery. After another week in quarantine, they were cleared and had overcome the virus.
Getting back to the turning the crisis on its head, once back the Rohra brothers decided to share their learnings. Another pivotal role in the conception and execution of the drive-through testing facility was played by Dr Anjali Chabria. A family friend of Rahul & Monish, she was indeed a pillar of support and motivated them throughout their recovery. As a matter of fact, she also referred them to their existing diagnostic partner when Rahul mentioned that he wanted to do something for the good of the community. His personal experience to get a test done was not pleasant and easy. Therefore, despite the fact that he was very well aware, this step would further hamper his business he decided to engage and thereafter started the centre keeping aside financial motivation.
Rahul Rohra shared his experience and stated “As much as the physical harm, the psychological or fear aspect of the virus is also very dangerous. Due diligence and following the directives are necessary, while at the same time permitting unrealistic fear to overwhelm one’s thinking is also redundant. The most effective way to be prepared is through testing and therefore we decided to go ahead with the drive-through model for Bandra.”
