Mumbai civic body to increase Covid beds to 21,000 in hospitals, 50,000 in CCC-2

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to increase the number of hospital beds available to Covid-19 patients to 21,000 as it expects a further spike in cases over the next 15 days. The city has seen a 217% increase in the number of active cases of Covid-19 since March 1.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to increase the number of hospital beds available to Covid-19 patients to 21,000 as it expects a further spike in cases over the next 15 days. The city has seen a 217% increase in the number of active cases of Covid-19 since March 1.

A healthcare worker collects swab sample of a traveller at Bandra Terminal in Mumbai on Thursday. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

With the number of cases of Covid-19 surging in the city since March, civic officials said they expect the number of cases to rise further as testing is being ramped up in an effort to break the chain of transmission. On Thursday, BMC commissioner IS Chahal issued a statement saying the civic body had the situation under control despite the spike. He further said that assuming the number of daily patients increases to 10,000 and 15% of them who would be symptomatic (needing14 days of hospitalisation), the requirement would be of approximately 21,000 beds. BMC is gearing up to ensure this infrastructure is in place.

To this end, the civic body will increase hospital bed strength from 13,773 to 21,000. For mildly symptomatic patients, BMC plans to increase the number of beds in Covid care centres-2 (CCC-2) to 50,000.

“We have categorised the beds into active, buffer and reserved. Initially, we would focus on improving the bed strength at Covid-19 jumbo centres. If the number of active patients increases further, we would activate the buffer beds. In the reserved category, if needed, we would reactivate the lodges, hostels, schools and establishments with oxygen facilities for moderate cases,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner.

Last July, when the pandemic curve was at its peak with a 69% recovery rate in the city, BMC had reserved 17,000 beds for severe and moderate cases. There were 23,810 beds in CCC-2 for mild cases.

On Wednesday, a statement from the Central government confirmed that a new strain of Covid-19 has been detected in Maharashtra, which appears to have a higher rate of transmission while being less virulent than the original strain. Experts have said that further analysis is required to know whether the recent spike in Covid cases may be attributed to the new variant.

Dr Rahul Pandit, who is part of the state’s Covid task force, said on Wednesday, “Though most patients are asymptomatic and don’t require admission, we need to be ready for the worst. We don’t know if the virus won’t get aggressive and if we don’t keep the beds prepared, we may face bed shortages in the coming months.”

BMC has already held meetings with private hospitals, instructing them to increase their bed capacity. “Soon, we would increase beds by around 4,000,” said Dr Gautam Bhansali, chief officer of Covid beds in private hospitals.

At present, there are no plans to turn major hospitals into dedicated Covid hospitals as had been done last year. “We need beds for non-Covid patients also. So, until we run out of all beds, we don’t want to convert any major hospital,” said Kakani.