The city was once a Covid hotspot, but two years into the pandemic, Mumbai is gearing up to shut down jumbo Covid Centers or field hospitals in a phased manner as cases have consistently declined over the past few months according to the the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC.
After the first phase of the pandemic, three jumbo care centres had been shut while the rest continued to function. The BMC however said that the Somaiya jumbo centre in Mumbai’s Sion will be kept ready in case a necessity arises. Meanwhile, Covid treatment will be provided to patients at the four main civic-run hospitals and 16 suburban hospitals besides the Kasturba hospital in Chinchpokli.
According to the BMC, even after the closure of eight jumbo covid-19 centres, 11,165 beds will be available across hospitals in the city for Covid-19 patients and if necessary more beds will be added on a need basis, the BMC said. The civic body set up its first jumbo Covid centre, a field hospital, at Bandra Kurla Complex or BKC on May 18, 2020, two months after the first case of Covid-19 was found in the city.
As the pandemic raged on, the civic body set up eight jumbo Covid centres with a total of 12,375 regular beds and 907 ICU beds where lakhs of patients were treated in last two years. The civic body also opened up inoculation centres at these field hospitals.
According to the additional municipal commissioner Sanjeev Kumar, the number of Covid patients requiring hospitalization is negligible over the past couple of months prompting the BMC to make the decision of closing down jumbo Covid centres in phases.
Jumbo Covid centres at Worli, BKC, Byculla, Mulund and Malad will be the ones that will be closed in the second phase.
(With inputs from PTI)
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