Mumbai: NESCO to get 1,500 beds, Jaslok turned into COVID-19 hospital

Jaslok Hospital has been asked to shift or discharge all non-COVID patients. File pics

In the constant race to provide adequate beds for the increasing COVID-19 cases, the civic body issued a circular on Thursday to form linkages between hospitals and 4- and 5-star hotels where patients not needing emergency care would be moved.

The shortage of beds continues to plague the city, despite the civic body adding beds every day. On Thursday, the civic chief decided to add 1,500 beds to the NESCO Jumbo COVID Centre in Goregaon East. The beds will be mainly oxygenated ones and are expected to be set up in seven days.

Most of the new beds at NESCO will be oxygenated

The civic body has also declared Jaslok Hospital as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. This comes as a majority of the cases are coming from buildings and high-rises. Currently, there are 1,100 active sealed buildings and over 10,500 active sealed floors in the city.

Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said that the conversion of Jaslok Hospital to a dedicated centre adds 250 beds, including 40 ICU beds. The beds will be included on the BMC's dashboard by Saturday. The hospital has been told to postpone its elective surgeries, shift non-COVID patients in tertiary care to nearby hospitals and discharge those who have recovered. Currently, there are around 4,105 beds available in various hospitals in the city according to BMC's dashboard. Another worrying point is that there are only 41 vacant ICU beds and only 15 ventilator beds available at the moment.

"The city is likely to get additional beds in the coming few days as three new jumbo centres are being set up, 1,500 beds are being added to the NESCO centre, 30 ICU units are being added at SevenHills hospital and Jaslok Hospital has been converted to a COVID hospital. We will also start High Dependency Units wherever there seems to be a shortage of ICU beds," a civic official said.

1,100
No. of sealed buildings currently