The man of the hour, helming operations in the city's war with the novel coronavirus, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Health) Suresh Kakani, took some time off his hectic schedule to speak with The Free Press Journal's Swapnil Mishra
With cases cropping up at an alarming rate across the city, could we say we have entered the stage of community transmission?
No, I don’t think so. We have only had cases of local transmission so far. Most patients, who have tested positive in Mumbai, do not have any travel history but have contracted the virus after coming in close contact with an infected person.
Despite the lockdown, the number of confirmed cases has gone up. What's your view on it?
This was bound to happen. For instance, I’m carrying the infection. We meet and I pass on the infection to you. You then become a carrier and pass it on to others. The virus transmits from one person to another in this way.
However, symptoms begin to show only after the incubation period has passed. So, we anticipated their sein confirmed cases after the seventh day of the lockdown. The provision of facilities and equipment was made accordingly. It is not as if we were unprepared to face this situation.
There is a huge shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). There have been reports of doctors and healthcare workers complaining about being forced to treat patients without it. What would you like to say?
There is no shortage of PPE. We have approximately 3 lakh N-95 masks and gloves and 5,000 PPE. This equipment is to be used only by doctors and nurses who are treating CoVID-19 patients. The other staff must wear N-95 masks, surgical caps and gloves while treating patients in general wards, as you never know which patient is a carrier of the virus.
Yes, currently, we have 491 ventilators, of which 50 were procured last week. All of them are in a working condition. But not all patients infected with coronavirus require ventilators.
Nearly 80 per cent of the patients fall under the low-risk category, which means that they are asymptomatic. Only 14 per cent are symptomatic. Only six per cent of this are vulnerable and suffer from other ailments. These cases will need ventilators.
Most of the beds in peripheral hospital beds lie vacant. Is there a plan to convert them into isolation wards?
Civic hospitals have a capacity of 2,100 beds. However, 90 per cent of the beds are empty as of now. Therefore, we plan to optimally use this capacity in two phases. We are only admitting high risk patients to the hospitals falling under phase one.
Currently, this number is low. The test results of most of the patients are yet to be declared. In case these beds fill up and we find it difficult to admit more patients, we will shift a symptomatic patients to the 250-bed facility being set up in Powai. We will then be able to make space for others.
What is being done to contain the spread of the virus in slums?
So far, seven cases have been reported from the slums of Mumbai. Accordingly, we have embarked on contact tracing. More than5,000 people from the slums have been quarantined to ensure that the infection does not spread further.
These areas are being disinfected. We have also set up health desks, where patients with cold, fever and cough could get themselves checked.
Why has the BMC stopped reporting daily figures to the media and public?
We haven’t stopped disclosing figures. Mumbai's coronavirus data is recorded in real time and we upload this data on ICDS, which is later given to the state health department. If cases are reported after 6pm, numbers are updated in a press release the following day.
Are those in quarantined buildings provided ration?
We help them in three ways. If residents ask for groceries or medicines, we ask a local vendor to set up a temporary establishment there and provide these items.
Secondly, with the help of the government and NGOs, we provide subsidised ration to the poor. We call them to a point and deliver it to them there.
For those staying alone and without a support system in place, we have taken help from NGOs to provide them free meals. We provide over 30,000 meals to all the 24 wards, daily.
