Mumbai: Civic hospitals on alert for Ganpati festival

Every year several cases of injuries and drowning are reported during Ganpati immersion. File pic

All BMC-run hospitals are prepared to tackle emergency situations, if any, during Ganpati festival and have reserved 2 to 5 beds to treat such patients, as per the chief medical superintendent's direction. Doctors at peripheral hospitals have been asked to remain on standby too.

This year, Ganpati festival will be celebrated in its full glory after a gap of two years, since the Covid-19 hit in 2020. However, as several cases of injury and drowning are generally reported during the procession or immersion, Chief Medical Superintendent Vidya Thakur has issued an order for all peripheral hospitals run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

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She said, "All hospitals have been asked to reserve 2 to 5 beds to treat emergency patients during Ganpati procession and immersion. All medicines, injectables, dressing materials, and equipment must also be available to treat the injured for free." She added, "Drowning and stingray bites are the common problems reported during the immersion process."

Major hospitals and medical colleges like KEM, Sion, Cooper, BYL Nair hospitals have also been kept ready. As per the order, all hospitals have been directed to keep surgeons, orthopaedics and ophthalmologists on alert as well as to ensure diagnosis equipment such as X-ray and sonogram machines are in working condition.