With the arrival of monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to convert one of the five jumbo Covid-19 centres into treatment facilities for dengue and malaria patients.
BMC is in the process of establishing a centralised facility with around 800-1,000 beds for monsoon-related ailments at one of the centres. The five centres with 4,000-5,000 beds are located at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), NSCI in Worli, Nesco in Goregaon, Dahisar and Mulund.
“As a large number of beds in jumbo facilities are lying vacant, we are planning to utilise the existing facilities to treat rain-related diseases under a single roof. However, we are most likely to reserve the beds with oxygen facilities for Covid-19 patients,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC.
The civic body has also allocated eight of its hospitals to treat only non-Covid cases and handle monsoon-related ailments, which are expected to surge by the end of June. At least 8,000 beds have been reserved in these hospitals to treat leptospirosis, dengue, malaria, typhoid and gastroenteritis patients.
Kakani said non-Covid hospitals have also been instructed to set up a separate monsoon ward with necessary precautions.
“Some hospitals, which partially cater to Covid-19 and non-Covid patients, have been asked to create a separate ward for monsoon-related diseases by following proper protocols to maintain sanitisation in the wards,” he added.