Despite rise in Covid-19 cases, 32% beds in Mumbai are vacant, claims civic corporation

The city recorded more than 2,800 cases on Thursday for the second consecutive day. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been able to maintain

The city recorded more than 2,800 cases on Thursday for the second consecutive day. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been able to maintain bed vacancy at around 32%. Officials attribute this to a high rate of patients discharged after treatment at Covid facilities.

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On Thursday, the city saw its second-highest single-day spike, with 2,823 new cases of Covid-19 and 48 deaths. Mumbai’s Covid-19 tally stands at 2,22,784, with 26, 383 active cases; and the death toll is 9,296. The discharge rate is 83.79% and the fatality rate is 4.17%. Dharavi recorded only eight new cases on Thursday, bringing its tally to 3,300. Of these, 2,820 have been discharged.

According to BMC, there are 15,047 beds in dedicated Covid-19 health facilities in the city, of which 11,102 are in government hospitals and 3,945 are in private hospitals. In government hospitals, 4,198 beds are available while 650 beds are vacant in private hospitals. There are also 2,018 beds in intensive care units (ICU), of which 1,039 are in government hospitals and 979 are in private hospitals. There are 123 ICU beds available in government hospitals and 111 in private facilities.

Bed vacancy has remained at around 32% despite spikes in the Covid caseload. This has been possible partly because of the high rate of patients discharged. Altogether, 1,86,675 patients have been discharged in Mumbai.

According to BMC, September saw over 50,409 discharged patients in the city, which is the highest recorded in a month so far. The previous highest was in July, when 42,283 patients were discharged. The city recorded 16,791 discharges until May 31. In June and August, 27,186 and 29,362 discharges were recorded respectively.

“We have four major Covid-19 jumbo centres at Worli, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Goregaon and Dahisar. These four jumbo centres have played a crucial role in ensuring our capacity or availability of beds remains high, which also results in government hospitals having more vacancies compared to private hospitals,” said a BMC official.

Previously, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had told HT, “We have enough beds to even handle around 4,000 patients daily. This is because we do not require beds for all the patients. Only symptomatic patients require a bed and asymptomatic patients are quarantined or opt for home isolation.”

As of October 6, of the total 23,976 active cases in the city, 60% were asymptomatic while 34% were symptomatic and 6% were in critical condition.

Another BMC official said there has been no instance of beds not being available for a Covid patient. “Bed availability becomes an issue only when the patient wants a bed in the hospital of his or her choice, rather than by the availability. In the last four months we have allotted more than 80,000 beds with help of our ward war rooms,” said the official.

According to BMC, its Covid war rooms, set up in each ward, allotted beds to 82,973 patients between June 10 and September 30.

Dr Siddarth Paliwal, a city-based private health consultant said, “The overall picture is 32% beds vacant, but there needs to be an improvement in the vacancy ratio maintained for ICU beds and ventilators. We are witnessing mild cases of late, but there is no guarantee with this virus. It will be wise to augment the number of ICU beds and ventilators.”

Google Maps to show containment zones

In a bid to make it easier for Mumbaiites to locate Covid-19 containment areas, the civic body collaborated with Google to showcase these zones on its maps from Thursday. There are 651 containment zones in Mumbai as on Wednesday and the civic body said information about them and other similar data will be updated on Google Map on a regular basis in the future. (with inputs from Sagar Pillai)