BMC Decides To Convert 5/4 Star Hotels To Covid Care Centers; Set Up 3 Field Hospitals

Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal said that some 5/4 star hotels in the city and suburbs are being taken over to create Covid Care Centre-2 facilities. 

Mumbai: Over 63,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 in a single day were reported, which has become a cause for concern for the Maharashtra government. The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday decided to convert Four-star and Five-star hotels as Covid centres. BMC has also decided to set up 3 new jumbo field hospitals in the city.

Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal said that some 5/4 star hotels in the city and suburbs are being taken over to create Covid Care Centre-2 facilities. 

He was quoted by IANS as saying, "These will be dovetailed and run by professionals from major private hospitals. It will make a large number of beds available to new needy patients by shifting substantially recovered patients quickly to these CCC2 facilities to be managed by medicos". 

The government will build 3 new Jumbo Field Hospitals at different locations in Mumbai each with a bed capacity of 2,000 including 200 ICUs and 70 per cent oxygenated beds he said further. The number of Jumbo Field Hospitals as mega-Covid care facilities will go from 7 to 10 in Mumbai. 

The civic body has already added 325 new ICU beds in various city hospitals, taking up the number of 2,466 now, while the total number of Covid beds in the online allotment dashboard has shot up to 19,151 in 141 hospitals of which only 3,777 beds are currently vacant. In a week's time, the BMC will add another 1,100 Covid beds including 125 ICUs, he added, as Mumbai grapples with 91,100 'active cases' or nearly 20 per cent of the state's 565,587 active cases to date and adding 9K-plus new patients daily.

Chahal further said more Nodal Officers shall be appointed to the 24 Ward War Rooms and 7 Jumbo Field Hospitals to work in two shifts - 3pm-11pm and 11pm-7am. In the second shift all bed allotments will be mostly for the Jumbo Field Hospitals with fast-track beds given throughout the night to the patients on arrival after assessing his/her medical condition.
"This will ensure that all needy patients shall get beds on fast track even during the night, besides during daytime. It will apply to even those awaiting their Covid test reports, or who have not got their tests done, but will be admitted to the 'suspected category', to ensure precious human lives are saved," Chahal was quoted by IANS. 

Maharashtra on Sunday reported 63,294 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 34,07,245. The state reported 34,008 recoveries and 349 deaths in the last 24 hours. There are 5, 65,587 active cases in Maharashtra, which is the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Around 27, 82,161 people have so far recovered while the death toll stands at 57,987.

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