Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Mumbai, BMC has so far spent Rs 610 crore on its fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to a report by Indian Express, Rs 250 crore has been spent on setting up infrastructure like quarantine centres and Covid care centres. While Rs 130 crore has been spent on procuring medicines and equipment, a major component has been the purchase of Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, and Favipiravir.
The civic body has spent Rs 75 crore on food for patients, high-risk contacts, and its own staff in hospitals and COVID centres. While, another Rs 40 crore has been spent on improving infrastructure at KEM, Sion, Dr RN Cooper, and Nair hospitals. The civic body has spent around Rs 10 crore on specialised hospitals like Kasturba and Sewri TB.
The BMC, in its budget for 2020-21, had allocated Rs 4,260.30 crore to its health department, of that Rs 1,049.07 crore was set to be spent on infrastructure and Rs 3,211.2 crore on salaries and medicines. But, the civic body has so far spent 14.3 percent of this year’s BMC health budget for the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.
The civic body officials have told the leading daily that due to COVID-19 outbreak other infrastructure projects like hostels for resident doctors and new hospital redevelopment plans may take a backseat.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai rose by 1,033 to 1,10,129 on Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. At 39, the city recorded its third-lowest single-day fatality count so far, it said, adding that the toll now stands at 6,119. The lowest one-day death toll at 39 had been reported on July 6 and July 11.
27 of the 39 deceased had underlying health conditions, according to the BMC. In more good news, Mumbai's recovery rate has improved to 73 percent while the case growth rate declined to 1.03 percent. The average case doubling rate has also gone up to 68 days, the BMC said.
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