Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SS)

Mumbai, May 15: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray instructed private hospitals to double their current capacity to treat Covid-19 positive patients after a video-conference with private hospitals in line with the issue of several private and public hospitals rejecting suspected and Covid-19 positive patients due to a lack of beds. State chief secretary Ajoy Mehta and Public Health Secretary Pradeep Vyas also attended the conference.

Complaints have been raised that private hospitals have largely been missing sharing the burden of the pandemic till now; mostly due to the high infection rate amongst their own staff. While municipal hospitals, currently having 3,600 beds share 80% of the Covid-19 burden in the city, private hospitals only have 1,100 beds.

The officer on special duty in BMC, Manisha Mhaiskar said that 2,100 beds in the public sector and 1,200 beds in the private sector will be installed by May 31. One or two wards are being opened in hospitals everyday to accommodate Covid-19 patients. With the number of infected patients rising, and a surge expected in the coming days, the BMC aims to increase the number of beds in public hospitals to 5,700 and in private hospitals to 2,300.

Dean in the KEM hospital, Dr Hemant Deshmukh, said that even though his hospital had 1,800 beds, only 340 were reserved for Covid-19 patients. The hospital is facing logistics shortage; they need to streamline short duty and have separate entry and exit points for isolation wards. They are, however, opening up more beds, he added.

Private hospitals, as well, have been instructed to have a separate holding area for suspected COVID-19 patients who can be treated until their test results come back. The city is going to rely largely on jumbo facilities at NSCI Dome, JJ Hospital and BKC. NSCI dome and Mahalaxmi Racecourse have 1,400 beds together for mildly symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. 1,000 beds will be added to BKC and 500 to JJ. Private doctors willing to work for the treatment of the affected shall be posted at these centres.

A special 500-bed facility at JJ hospital will be set up on open ground. It shall be handled by doctors and medical staff. Around 100 beds with intensive care units for patients requiring oxygen support and intensive care will be set up.