Facing an acute shortage of ICU beds, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided to set up 125 ICU beds at the ESIC Hospital in Vashi. The civic body will start the process in a couple of days and it is expected that in two to three weeks, the facility will be available.
With this additional 125 ICU beds, the civic body will have around 300 ICU beds available in a month's time. FPJ had earlier reported about how the civic body is facing a shortage of ICU beds.
With the constant rise in COVID-19 cases, the occupancy of ICU beds and ventilators has increased sharply. The availability of ICU beds across the NMMC jurisdiction had come down to just 10 on Thursday.
Abhijit Bangar, the municipal commissioner said that in a fortnight, the civic body will have a total of 175 ICU beds of which 40% will have a ventilators facility. “We have also planned to set up 125 ICU beds at the ESIC Hospital in Vashi for which the process will begin in a couple of days,” said Bangar.
The NMMC has tied up with the Dr DY Patil Hospital wherein the civic body will get 200 ICU beds and 80 ventilators. The civic body has already received 100 ICU beds and the remaining it will get in a fortnight. “Of the 100 ICU beds, 50 beds will be available within 4-5 days,” said Bangar.
In addition, the NMMC is also setting up 75 ICU beds at the COVID-19 Care Centre at the CIDCO Exhibition centre in Vashi which will be available in a week. “In total, we will have 300 ICU beds in a month's time,” said Bangar.
As of September 18, of the total capacity of 336 ICU beds in the NMMC, 323 beds have been occupied. Similarly, while there are a total of 121 ventilators, 116 are occupied.
At present, the number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 3546 in the areas under NMMC jurisdiction. Every day, the civic body seeing around 300 to 400 positive cases. So far, 681 people have died due to coronavirus infection in the city.
