MHADA starts dismantling Mumbai’s last jumbo Covid-19 centre

Four years since the pandemic, the MHADA has started dismantling Mumbai’s last remaining jumbo Covid-19 centre, located at Somaiya Ground in Sion

MUMBAI: The city will soon be visibly rid of memories of the novel coronavirus pandemic that broke out in March 2020. Four years on, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has started dismantling Mumbai’s last remaining jumbo Covid-19 centre, located at Somaiya Ground in Sion.

Mumbai, India - April 6, 2024: Workers dismantling the COVID facility centre constructed by MAHADA at Somiaya grounds, Chunabhatti, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, April 6, 2024. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

This facility was one of three jumbo centres—the two others being in Malad and Kanjurmarg—that were temporarily constructed in 2021 in anticipation of the third Covid-19 wave, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) arranging for 5,908 beds. However, despite the preparations, the facility did not see any admissions due to the low hospitalisation rate during the third wave.

The process of dismantling Mumbai’s nine jumbo centres, which state and civic authorities had worked overtime to erect to ensure uninterrupted medical supplies during lockdowns, began in a phased manner in July 2022.

Sources in the Maharashtra government said that MP Rahul Shewale wanted the Somaiya Ground centre to be used as a waiting facility for the relatives of cancer patients at Tata Memorial Hospital. However, this couldn’t be done because the temporary facility was erected below high-tension wires.

The jumbo centres were a major part of the state government’s response to the pandemic. A senior BMC official in charge of health said that the idea of a jumbo centre came from an international news report where a field hospital for Covid-19 was set up in three months. The jumbo centres, which were initially built as quarantine facilities, proved to be the game-changer in the authorities’ battle against the pandemic.

“We had augmented ICU and oxygen beds in the jumbo centres that allowed us to treat many patients. It came to our rescue when the oxygen cylinder crisis hit. We had an oxygen pipeline supply system. There was no wastage and we could help needy people,” said the senior BMC official, who requested anonymity.

Seeing the vital role played by the jumbo centres during the first and second waves of the pandemic, the BMC planned additional facilities in anticipation of a third wave. “It was predicted that we will see more Covid-19 cases in the third wave, especially paediatric cases. These new jumbo centres were constructed keeping this in mind. However, in the third wave, hospitalisation did not go beyond 5%,” said another BMC official.

With a declining hospitalisation rate despite a significant number of infections, BMC decided to dismantle the jumbo Covid-19 centres and treat patients at hospitals. As a result, the Sion, Malad and Kanjurmarg centres were never operational.

“The closure of these specialised Covid-19 jumbo centres may be seen as a logistical necessity. But for the Covid-19 management [staff] and the people who benefitted from these unique health facilities, it will always be remembered with immense gratitude and a tinge of sadness,” said the BMC official, who worked at one of the nine jumbo centres