To ensure that its conservancy workers on the field remain fit during the COVID-19 spread, the Coimbatore Corporation began conducting health camps for them in the city on Tuesday.
The civic body held the first camp at its S.R.P. Ammani Ammal School in R.S. Puram, after the workers completed the work for the day, Corporation sources said. Around 200 workers, both men and women, attended the camp.
Two doctors and five paramedical staff screened the workers for COVID-19 symptoms and their general health.
The Corporation staff told the workers about general well-being techniques, how they should protect themselves and their family from COVID-19, the importance of using masks, gloves and hand sanitisers.
The sources said the civic body also used the opportunity to talk to men workers addicted to liquor. The idea was to help them overcome withdrawal symptoms and use the opportunity to kick the habit.
The sources said the Corporation had planned several such camps in the coming days – till the end of the lockdown – to cover all conservancy workers. It planned to hold the camps close to the points where the workers assembled after work, to be taken back to their homes.