Across the city, a total of 84 CCC2 facilities are currently available with a total capacity to house over 14,000 patients. Express Photo By Ganesh Shirsekar

In view of the Union Health Ministry projection that COVID-19 cases in Mumbai could hit 70,000 by May-end, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to set up 4,000 additional COVID-care beds, each with oxygen cylinders for patients. The civic body’s plan includes to ramp up bed capacities in the existing hospitals and provide oxygen line to each bed.

In a meeting last week, the BMC briefed deans, superintendents and CEOs of all hospitals about the need to ramp up bed capacities.

According to the civic body’s plan, the capacity of civic-run Nair hospital will be increased to 1,000 beds and Seven Hills at Marol to 1,300 beds by mid-May, with each bed supplied with oxygen line. The state government has equipped 405 beds at St George’s Hospital and G T Hospital. HBT Trauma Hospital at Jogeshwari will also be ramped up to 100 beds. In addition, the BMC was also going to acquire exhibition centres, open grounds and schools to convert them into COVID Care centres for high risk asymptomatic contacts.

Following the inter-ministerial central team’s suggestion to ramp up the number of quarantine beds available for Dharavi to 5,000, the civic body has acquired several lodges, municipal schools and college hostel. Dharavi is likely to get 3,000 quarantine beds by next week, sources said. The civic body has also also acquired four hospitals from Dharavi as COVID care facilities, besides 140 beds at Sushrusha hospital, where patients requiring basic care will be sent. As many as 90 beds in the four hospitals are being fitted with oxygen cylinders.

Across the city, a total of 84 CCC2 facilities – meant for COVID-19 positive yet asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients under 60 years of age – are currently available with a total capacity to house over 14,000 patients. At present, 1,474 patients are receiving treatment in these facilities. In CCC1 – quarantine centres for high risk contacts – a total of 6,770 people are admitted across 242 facilities in the city.