Mumbai civic body assures HC of Covid preparedness

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in its affidavit filed in the Bombay high court (HC) has informed that it has more than 21,000 beds in dedicated Covid hospitals (DCH) and dedicated Covid healthcare centres (DCHC) in the city, of which more than 4,000 beds were vacant.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in its affidavit filed in the Bombay high court (HC) has informed that it has more than 21,000 beds in dedicated Covid hospitals (DCH) and dedicated Covid healthcare centres (DCHC) in the city, of which more than 4,000 beds were vacant. The affidavit, filed in response to the allegations of mismanagement of Covid-19 treatment facilities during the second wave by state and civic authorities, also stated the civic body has sufficient supply of Remdesivir and oxygen for treating Covid-19 patients. BMC also said that it has floated tenders to install oxygen generation plants at 12 hospitals under it to resolve the issue of shortage.

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BMC added that the number of Covid-19 testing had gone down due to lockdown restrictions as there were lesser people outside.

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city-based lawyer Sneha Marjadi through advocates Simil Purohit and Arshil Shah, was informed by senior advocate Anil Sakhare for BMC that as per court directions, it had filed an affidavit enumerating the various measures initiated by it to tackle the surge in Covid-19 cases during the second wave.

The affidavit filed by Dr Mangala Gomare, in-charge executive health officer, addressed the various issues pertaining to mismanagement raised in the PIL and stated it has listed the same under the heads of bed management, supply and availability of Remdesivir, supply and availability of oxygen, Covid-19 testing and crematoriums.

With regards to beds, the affidavit states that BMC has full-time ward-wise war rooms to inform people of availability of beds in each ward. On receiving calls, a team visits the caller and if needed advices hospitalisation and calls for an ambulance. It further states that as on April 27, the total bed capacity in all DHC and DCHC was 21,706, of which 17,021 were occupied and 4,685 were vacant; thus, the civic body was well equipped for admission of Covid patients.

The affidavit stated that it has sufficient supply of Remdesivir. BMC on April 27 had a stock of 13,110 vials of the antiviral drug whereas its requirement for a seven-day period was around 12,033, leading to some excess which was then sent to Pune (500 vials) and Thane civic bodies (1,100).

BMC also said there are a total of 72 crematoriums for Hindus, 70 for Muslims and 8 for others. Among the 72 crematoriums, 14 are electric furnaces while 17 are PNG furnaces. The civic body also added that one of the PNG furnaces run by a private trust at Walkeshwar was not functional, and that it had asked the trust to get it functional soon. It also added that it will install air pollution control system in private crematoriums under its jurisdiction if the need arises.

With regards to Covid-19 testing, the affidavit stated that 5.5 million tests were conducted since the beginning of last year, of which 3,816,386 (69%) were RT-PCR tests and 1,727,116 (31%) were antigen tests. BMC has submitted that in April, till the date of filing affidavit, 1,172,559 tests were conducted — the highest monthly testing count so far. “However, from the day of strict lockdown, from April 22, testing has gone down to some extent. Since testing at crowded places like malls, railway stations, markets etc. has gone down, this has affected average testing per day. Normally, the number of testing reported on every Monday is less than average, due to weekly off to the staff of testing labs and weekly maintenance of machinery used for testing in these labs,” stated the affidavit.

While the HC on Thursday sought details from BMC about fire audits of hospitals and their compliances, it will hear the PIL next on May 4.