The BMC has made 2,269 beds, including 360 in ICU, available with immediate effect in private hospitals to cater to the growing rush of Covid patients since early-March.
MUMBAI — A day after Mumbai added 5,890 new Covid-19 patients to take the tally past the 4-lakh mark, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) geared up for a possible second war against the virus, a top official said here on Tuesday.
For starters, the BMC has made 2,269 beds, including 360 in ICU, available with immediate effect in private hospitals to cater to the growing rush of Covid patients since early-March.
“These will be in addition to more than 3,000 beds currently lying vacant in government and private hospitals. We are also operationalizing an additional 1,500 beds in the Jumbo field hospitals by this weekend to take the total bed availability to over 7,000,” BMC Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal told IANS.
Moving swiftly, the civic body has also ordered takeover of 80 per cent beds and 100 per cent ICU beds in all private hospitals and barred them against admitting any Covid positive patients without the green signal from the Covid Ward War Room, he added.
Reverting to the policy enforced in May 2020, no patients shall be allowed direct admission to hospitals till their Covid positive report is received from the labs, and thereafter, the BMC teams will pick up the patient/s from their homes to the designated hospital. — IANS
