BMC to add 200 beds daily as Mumbai prepares for more COVID-19 cases

Amidst concerns of the city lacking enough beds to treat moderately and severely affected COVID-19 patients, the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) has mentioned that it will add 200 beds a day to take the total tally to 7,000 beds by the next two weeks. Currently, the authorities have mentioned that there are 4,274 beds (as of May 10) spread across Dedicated Covid Health Centres (DCHC) and Dedicated Covid Hospitals (DCH) across the city.

The steps seem necessary given that the city’s doubling rate of 11 days predicts cases touching nearly 28,000 under the next two weeks. Officials believe that around 1,400 or 5 per cent of the cases could require critical care or ICU support. Previous mathematical estimates have mentioned that the city could have 70,000 cases by the end of May. 

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 Manisha Mhaiskar, Principal Secretary on Deputation to the BMC said - “From 1,960 beds in April 10, we increased them to 2,900 by May 1, and 4,274 as on May 10. We are practically adding full wards every week”.

The additional beds will be spotted in several state-run and private hospitals including KEM, Sion, Kasturba, Cooper, Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, Bal Thackeray Trauma Hospital, St George Hospital, and several others.

Despite the plan to add more beds, some doctors fear that hospitals may be understaffed to handle the rise in cases. Keeping this in mind, the BMC has planned to employ Ayurveda and Homeopathy doctors in civic hospitals to monitor COVID-19 patients. These doctors have reportedly been trained to handle the virus. 

Additional Municipal Commissioner of the BMC, Suresh Kakani said - “By May 15, the CCC2 (for non-symptomatic patients) at MMRDA in BKC is likely to become functional. It will have 1,000 beds of which 50 per cent will have oxygen support,” adding that a further 10,000 beds are planned.

Maharashtra’s COVID-19 cases tally now stands at 23,400 while Mumbai’s cases have crossed 14,500. The state has seen a total of 868 COVID-19 related deaths as of the most recent figures.