The BMC had also earmarked Kasturba hospital in Central Mumbai as the designated facility for Covid-19. (File) With the decline in Covid-19 cases in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to close down the Covid-19 jumbo treatment centres at Dahisar, NESCO in Goregaon, Mulund and Kanjur Marg. The decision to shut down the facilities has been taken as the number of new Covid-19 cases in Mumbai has started reducing drastically and the intensity of patients requiring hospitalisation has reduced after the third wave of infections subsided.
This decision was taken by Additional Commissioner (health) Suresh Kakani of BMC after taking a review on Thursday. Speaking to The Indian Express, Kakani said, “We will close down the jumbo centres at Dahisar, NESCO, Mulund and Kanjur Marg. Jumbo centres at BKC, NSCI in Worli and Richardson Cruddas in Byculla will continue along with the Seven Hills hospital in Marol. We have kept the Covid treatment facility at Malvani (for pediatric patients) on standby.”
The Kanjur Marg Covid treatment facility was funded by CIDCO and was barely used. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority had financed construction of the Covid treatment centre at Somaiya Ground as a precautionary measure for the third wave, and the Centre was never handed over to BMC, said Kakani.
On Thursday, Mumbai reported 119 new cases of Covid-19 and one death. The rate of doubling in Mumbai is now 4,019 days and recovery rate is 98 per cent. At present, there are only 1,228 active Covid-19 cases and 373 ICU beds are occupied, while another 155 are on ventilator. Officials said that 114 non–oxygenated beds are occupied.
Executive health officer of BMC, Mangala Gomare, said, “We had estimated a lot of patients. We had estimated active cases of 1.35 lakh and high oxygen and hospitalisation rates in the third wave. This third wave did not last long. Since there was not much lung involvement, people did not require hospitalisation. We had prepared well, but had not required so much hospitalisation. At present, 10 to 15 patients may be getting admitted daily. One does not require so many facilities.”
She said that the BMC had prepared for 37,000 beds but such large infrastructure was not required. Another officer in the public health department said that because of expenses on Covid, non-Covid health activities are suffering.
The BMC had also earmarked Kasturba hospital in Central Mumbai as the designated facility for Covid-19. As the pandemic spread, more hospitals were earmarked for treatment and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority set up the first jumbo treatment facility at Bandra Kurla Complex in mid-2020. More facilities came up later.
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