Critical care beds full as COVID-19 cases rise in Mumbai; BMC ramping up capacity

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Almost all intensive care unit (ICU) beds available for COVID-19 treatment in Mumbai are occupied, indicating the severe dearth of critical care as cases rise in the city. As of May 25, of the 644 COVID care ICU beds available in the city, 96 percent were already occupied.

Almost 66 percent of 359 critical care beds with ventilators were taken and 63 percent of the 4,116 beds with oxygen support were occupied.

Total 32,791 confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the city, of which 22,912 are active cases. The virus has claimed 1,065 lives so far.

According to BMC, about 5 percent of COVID-19 patients need critical care in the city and the civic body is ramping up its bed capacity, while also working towards catching the disease early.

With its containment plan, Mumbai expects to have 27,000 active cases by the end of May, contrary to the earlier projection of nearly 50,000 cases.

However, even at the current rate, Mumbai will require nearly 1,600-1,700 ICU beds.

As part of its order for private hospitals to reserve 80 percent beds to be regulated by BMC, the governing body gets access to nearly 650 ICU beds in private hospitals.

Also Read: COVID-19 Mumbai report: Patients wait for days in hospital compounds for treatment as beds completely occupied

BMC has also been setting up jumbo facilities that will add 600 ICU beds. BMC Chief Iqbal Singh Chahal, in a press briefing said, “We have nearly 10,000 beds in DCH & DCHC now and by May 31, it will be expanded to 14,000 beds.”

To deal with the shortage of beds, the BMC has been setting up massive facilities at Bandra Kurla Complex, Dahisar, Mulund, NESCO Grounds in Goregaon and Mahalaxmi Race Course. These five facilities have added 5,400 isolation beds, 1,200 oxygen supported beds, 600 ICU beds and 180 beds with ventilator support. The NESCO facility in Goregaon is the largest so far with nearly 2,500 beds in total. In next two weeks all these facilities will be available.

To avoid situations where owing to lack of beds patients are made to run from one hospital to another, a single portal will collate data on all beds in both govt and private hospitals. A live dashboard will also update the usage and availability of beds across the city.

BMC is increasing the number of helpline numbers to cater to a larger requirement. The helpline number will also be used for checking bed availability and directing patients to hospitals that have vacant beds.

BMC Chief said the strategy now is to ‘chase the virus’ with proactive steps and this will also help reduce the mortality rate below 3 percent. “We managed to bring down Mumbai’s mortality to 3.2 percent from 7 percent in April. With specific measures mortality rate will further go down to 3 percent and below that.”

BMC is looking at expanding contact-tracing, early detection of co-morbid & high-risk persons, detecting low oxygen saturation in elderly & co-morbid patients and adding capacities for dialysis.

Talking about getting more healthcare workers, Chahal said 3,700 doctors, nurses and paramedical staff have responded to the request for COVID duty, of these 570 doctors and nurses have chosen the jumbo facilities for service, said Chahal.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow