Mumbai reels under bed shortage as private hospitals remain shut

MUMBAI: It’s been nearly three weeks since five large hospitals in Mumbai were sealed after Covid-19 was found among medical staff. With the city reeling under the onslaught of the novel coronavirus, and more healthcare workers getting infected, its already overstretched healthcare system has come under more strain with shortage of beds and professionals to take care of the ill.

The sealing of Wockhardt and Jaslok hospitals has taken nearly 800 beds out of the system. Both hospitals have still not indicated when they will open their facilities for treatment. The other hospitals were Bhatia Hospital and Hinduja Khar. Hinduja is operational again according to the hospital management.

Text messages and phone calls made to Wockhardt’s management remained unanswered as of press time. A spokesperson for Jaslok had told ET last week that the hospital has started select services and is working on the protocols to take necessary precautions before its other services start.

The growing number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai is testing the local administration’s prowess at handling the epidemic. The total number of active Covid-19 cases in Mumbai was 4,652 as on April 26.

According to officials, the number of beds available in the city’s hospitals now is — 8,416 in public hospitals and 187 in private hospitals. With authorities projecting that the city could have between 8,000 and 15,000 cases, the shortage of beds is a matter of immense worry.

The municipal corporation, BMC, is now arranging to move patients with mild infections from hospitals to Covid care centres — a makeshift arrangement in city stadiums — after a month of the lockdown. BMC acquired a private hospital in Bandra in order to make these beds available.

Officials told ET that private hospitals’ reluctance to open their facilities is adding to the pressure on the system. Several private hospitals in the city are only offering emergency services and selective operations. They are also not admitting mild Covid-19 patients.

“We are facing shortage of staff as a few doctors and on ground staff are scared to come to work,” said an official of a private hospital in the city, requesting not to be named. This fear among hospital staff is pushing hospitals to test patients for Covid-19 before they are admitted.