Maharashtra creates jumbo medical centres as Covid-19 count crosses 50,000-mark

• 'A 30,000-bed Covid-19 care centre for those patients who do not have the capacity for self-isolation has been created in Mumbai,' said Uddhav
• The current count of Covid-19 patients in the state of Maharashtra is 52,667

Mumbai: With the number of covid-19 infection cases crossing 50,000 in Maharashtra and 31,000 in Mumbai alone, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said late on Monday evening that a couple of jumbo facilities have been created in Mumbai for treating covid-19 patients.

“The first open hospital in the country has been created in a fortnight by the MMRDA at Bandra Kurla Complex. This 1,000 bed jumbo facility includes a 200 bed ICU," said Thackeray.

“Services of hospitals having minimum of 100 beds and 20 ICU beds have been requisitioned in every ward. A 30,000-bed Covid-19 care centre for those patients who do not have the capacity for self-isolation has been created in Mumbai. The number of ambulances has been hiked from 100 to 450," said Thackeray, adding that Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is distributing 7 lakh food packets daily and there are 360 fever clinics now in Mumbai.

The current count of Covid-19 patients in the state of Maharashtra is 52,667. On Monday, 2,436 new patients have been identified as positive. Also, 1,186 patients have been cured as of Monday, while 15,786 patients have been cured in total so far. The total number of active patients in the state stood at 35,178 as on Monday evening, according Maharashtra’s health ministry.

Last week, Thackeray said the state has created ICU and isolation bed facilities in Mumbai and the government hopes there will be no need for us to put these facilities to use but, the state is prepared for any eventuality.

Three days back Thackeray had said 80% of all hospital beds are now regulated in terms of treatment rates and services offered.

“We have been fighting this battle for over two months now and I am confidence that we will stop the spread of Corona. Institutional quarantine facilities are being provided in Mumbai to citizens, whose states are not allowing them to return considering the present situation," said Thackeray.

Maharashtra government has put itself on a fast track to create enough quarantine and treatment facilities in the state to combat covid-19, especially because despite all efforts the number of covid-19 cases has been steadily rising in the state.

On 18 May, Thackeray, referring to the so-called jumbo facilities being created in the state, had said, “These jumbo facilities will not just be Covid care centres and have all beds with oxygen facilities, but will also have ICU beds. We have created robust health infrastructure and will strengthen it further."

Earlier, on 15 May, he said he inspected a 1,000 bed Corona Care Centre(CCC) which has been developed at NESCO, Goregaon in Mumbai.

On 14 May, the state government set up a dedicated covid-19 hospital B J Medical College in Pune equipped with ICU Beds, isolation ward, ventilators, mobile X-Ray machines, dialysis facility, central oxygen and suction system and so on.

Just a day before that, on 13 May, as a part of preparedness, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, in collaboration with Radha Soami Satsang Beas Centre, built a fully-equipped Covid Care Centre. Developed in the ashram premises at Yerla, the centre has a capacity to house 5,000 beds. 20 doctors and other medical staff has been deputed for every 100 beds there.

In order to reduce the burden on the state’s health infrastructure, On 11 May, Thackeray had said that making available hospitals and ICU beds in Central Government establishments like the Army and Mumbai Port Trusts will aid the battle against the Coronavirus.

“Doctors, medical staff, and police are working round-the-clock, and need a respite. The police, who are maintaining law and order, need to take rest as they are falling sick due to long hours of work," Thackeray had said.

On 11 May, Thackeray suggested that a task force of expert doctors like those in Mumbai and Pune must be formed at national level and they must communicate with the State Task Force through video conferencing.

As Maharashtra grapples with the increase in Covid-19 cases unabated, the state has sought Kerala's assistance in the managing the pandemic in Mumbai, requesting 50 experienced doctors and 100 nurses from the southern state.

In a letter to Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, the Director of Medical Education & Research, Maharashtra, Dr T.P. Lahane requested for expert doctors and nurses for managing the 600-bed dedicated Covid-19 centre being set up at Mumbai's Mahalakshmi Race Course. The facility includes a 125- bed ICU. Patients with moderate symptoms are being admitted at this healthcare centre.

The letter says healthcare workers in Mumbai are working at full capacity and with the likelihood of Covid-19 cases increasing in the densely populated cities of Mumbai and Pune, there is a need for more doctors and nurses in the state.

Maharashtra will provide accommodation, meals, required medicine and personal protective equipment to these doctors and nurses.

The state has offered to pay the MBBS doctors Rs.80,000 a month and Rs.2 lakh per month for MD/MS specialist doctors, which include physicians and intensivists. Trained nursing staff will be paid Rs.30,000 a month.

Mint had on 12 May reported that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region may call around 5,000 doctors from other districts in Maharashtra to help fight Covid-19 in the city and give some rest to its overworked doctors, said two doctors working with the state government.

With Covid-19 cases increasing daily, the medical fraternity is over worked and fatigued, and pooling in more doctors would ensure appropriate rest to the existing ones.

Currently, around 11,000 doctors, government and private, are assisting the state in fighting the pandemic. On 6 May, the state had asked the city’s private medical practitioners to report to work immediately and mandatorily to serve Covid-19 patients for at least 15 days. Till 11 May, the state had received 7,000 applications for the same.

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