BMC set to increase bed capacity to 1 lakh

Anticipating a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to increase Mumbai’s hospital bed capacity to 1 lakh by the

Anticipating a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to increase Mumbai’s hospital bed capacity to 1 lakh by the end of this month. This number would include all beds in quarantine centres, dedicated Covid-19 hospitals and health centres; beds in intensive care units (ICU) and oxygen-supported beds.

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BMC estimates Covid-positive cases in the city may go up to 80,000 by the end of June.

On Monday, Mumbai recorded 1, 098 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total number of infected cases in the city to 67, 586; and 630 patients were discharged. Dharavi reported 14 new cases on Monday, taking its total to 2,184.

The city also recorded 66 deaths, taking the death toll to 3, 737. Of the 66 deaths, 20 were recorded in last 48 hours and 46 were from before June 19. The city’s doubling rate — the time taken for cases to double — has gone up to 37. According to BMC, 2.69 lakh tests for Covid-19 had been conducted till Sunday.

Municipal commissioner IS Chahal said on Monday that BMC will increase bed capacity in the city from the current 84,000 to 1 lakh. “We are planning it in such a way that even if our cases double, our beds should be sufficient,” said Chahal. “Actual number of people admitted to hospitals and symptomatic is nearly 9, 500 out of the total active patients,” he added.

Chahal said the strength of ICU beds in the city would be increased to 300 by June 25 and by July 5, another 200 beds would be added. “When I took charge, we had 3,500 beds including dedicated Covid-19 health centres (DCHC) and dedicated Covid-19 hospitals (DCH). Today, we have 12,000 beds. By June 31, it will increase to 15,000 and later we will scale it up to 20,000 by July 31,” said Chahal.

DCHC are for those with mild to moderate cases of Covid-19 and DCH are for critical patients with comorbidity.

Of the 84,000 beds for Covid-19 patients, 60,000 are at Covid care centres (CCC) 1 and 2. All high-risk contacts are being shifted to CCC 1, which are located in hotels, newly-constructed buildings and similar structures. Under the new rules, asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients are in CCC 2, which are government-run centres with doctors and nurses on duty round the clock.

As per the new rules, patients get test results from the local ward office which also allots beds at a health centre. Chahal said, “The ward team then starts calling people, informing them of their test results and by 3pm of the same day, a bed is allotted to the patient.”