Advertisement

Only 2,400 COVID-19 Beds Offered by Mumbai’s 53 Private Hospitals so Far

The state had expected private hospitals to provide at least 12,000 beds for patients when the virus outbreak was gripping out of control.

Only 2,400 COVID-19 Beds Offered by Mumbai’s 53 Private Hospitals so Far
SHARES


A delegation led by Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope and the CEO of the State Health Assurance, Dr. Sudhakar Shinde found several inadequacies in the allocation of standard and ICU beds for COVID-19 patients by private hospitals. 

The state had expected private hospitals to provide at least 12,000 beds for patients when the virus outbreak was gripping out of control. However, it was found that 53 private hospitals have only set aside 2,400 beds and 421 ICU beds for COVID-19 patients. These hospitals reportedly have 3,000 beds for non-COVID-19 patients.

The delegation paid surprise visits to several private hospitals, with the inspections reportedly going on until 2 AM on Tuesday. It was discovered that Hinduja Hospital had non-COVID bed occupancy of only 10 per cent while the hospital had reserved only 40 beds for COVID-19 patients. 

Furthermore, Lilavati Hospital in Bandra reportedly reserved only 90 beds for COVID-19 patients while the institution has over 300 beds. However, it is said that all 90 beds at Lilavati were occupied during the time of the inspection. 

Also Read - Government Issues Show-Cause Notice To Four Private Hospitals In Mumbai

Jaslok Hospital set aside 183 beds in total, while only 30 were reserved for COVID-19 patients. Similarly, Bombay Hospital had only kept 90 beds (includes 42 ICU beds) despite having a capacity of 500 beds.

These figures illustrate that private institutions have failed to respond to the State and Civic body’s call for setting aside beds for COVID-19 patients. This comes as the hospitals run by the BMC are currently overrun with patients, and are on the verge of running out of beds. 

Some hospitals have mentioned that the lack of beds could be attributed to the unavailability of several doctors and nursing staff, which is essential for any hospital to run at its capacity. The staff is unavailable either due to transport restrictions or infection-related issues, the private hospital representatives mentioned.

BMC has created a dashboard now that gives the availability of beds in each hospital. This initiative has been taken to help citizens find which hospitals have vacant beds and patients don't have to run from pillar to posts. 

RELATED TOPICS
Advertisement
MumbaiLive would like to send you latest news updates