Coronavirus pandemic | BMC to acquire 100 beds of private hospitals in each Mumbai ward

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has directed civic officials to acquire at least 100 beds, including 10 in ICUs, of private nursing homes and small hospitals in all 24 wards of Mumbai in the wake of rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

This will facilitate availability of at least 2,400 more beds for patients in the city, the Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release on Wednesday.

Mumbai recorded 1,372 new COVID-19 cases and 41 deaths on Wednesday, the BMC said.

The tally of cases in the country's financial capital thus reached 23,935 and death toll rose to 841.

In the wake of the rising number of cases, BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal directed ward and health officers to complete the process of acquiring beds in private nursing homes and hospitals soon.

He also directed ward officers to file police complaints against private nursing homes, polyclinics and hospitals which have not reopened.

Chahal also directed ward officers to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to private nursing homes and hospitals, the BMC release said.

Nearly 1,000 health surveillance teams are daily surveying six to seven lakh people, and suspected coronavirus patients are being referred to COVID Care Centres.

The civic body also said that 58,14,340 houses were surveyed and 7,447 suspected cases were referred till date.

On Monday, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) handed over a make-shift facility of 1,000 beds in the Bandra-Kurla Complex to the city civic body.