OPEN NEXT WEEK: 2 HOSPITALS DEDICATED TO FIGHTING COVID

Facilities at Nesco centre and BKC will have a combined 2,500 beds and offer full-spectrum treatment and therapy

Mumbai will soon have a lot more firepower to deal the coronavirus pandemic. Two new emergency hospitals – a BMC facility at the Nesco Exhibition Centre in Goregaon and an MMRDA hospital on Bandra- Kurla Complex grounds – with a combined 2,500-bed capacity will start taking in patients as early as next week. The hospitals - initially envisaged as makeshift facilities with isolation units – will offer fullspectrum treatment and therapy to Covid-19 patients in the city.

Civic authorities told Mirror the Goregaon hospital will accommodate 1,240 beds with oxygen support, plus a 300-bed ICU and 50 dialysis machines. The BKC hospital will have 1,000 beds, half of which will offer oxygen support. The two centres will also have pathology labs and X-ray facilities, they added.


Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said earlier the authorities had planned to construct quarantine centres at the two locations.

However, given the rising number of cases in the city, they decided to instead build full-fledged hospitals dedicated to Covid-19 treatment, offering all facilities under one roof.

Kakani added that since the monsoon is on the way, authorities must prepare to tackle rain-related diseases as well. The two hospitals will free up space at other facilities that are currently operating at full capacity.

“Our hospitals are all full with Covid- 19 patients. These two hospitals will be dedicated corona facilities so that our other hospitals are able to treat people with monsoon-related ailments,” he said.

MMRDA Commissioner RA Rajeev said MMRDA will hand over the BKC hospital to the municipality on Monday.

On Friday Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the Nesco centre and assured officials and doctors that the state would provide state-of-theart equipment and whatever support is required to fight the pandemic.