The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has floated a tender to establish a jumbo coronavirus care centre at Mahalaxmi Race Course to increase overall capacity. This facility will have 457 beds, with 200 of them being ICU beds while the rest are oxygen beds.
The civic body built a jumbo facility at the same location last year but later dismantled it due to the reduction in COVID cases. However, with the country experiencing its second and deadlier wave of infections, officials have decided to bring it up again.
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“During the monsoon, water had entered the centre. There were some operational issues also. So it was decided to shut down the facility,” a BMC official said.
The 1,500 sq km facility will be built at a cost of ₹50 crores, the BMC said adding that it will be up and running around a month after the contractor is finalised. The appointed contractor will also be responsible for the day-to-day operations and overall maintenance of the facility for a period of three months.
“This facility will have more ICU beds. It can be useful for the next wave of Covid-19. We are hopeful of finalising the contractor by mid-May,” an official from the Health Infrastructure Cell (HIC) said.
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Mumbai has a total of six jumbo COVID care facilities with around 9,000 beds. The BMC is mulling three additional facilities in the city at Kanjurmarg, Malad, and Sion. These facilities will come up in a month and add around 5,000 beds to the tally, officials said.
Municipal Commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal said earlier that Mumbai’s situation is improving to some extent as vacant beds in the city increased from 3,900 to 5,500 over the past three days. Overall, the city has 21,761 beds across 172 hospitals and dedicated COVID care facilities.
“On Thursday, Mumbai recorded 4,634 cases with 38,500 tests conducted. The city’s positivity rate is now 11%,” Chahal said.
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