Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will inaugurate two new dedicated Covid health centres (DCHC) in Bhayandar through video conference on Monday, informed local Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik.With this, the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) will add 366 more beds to its existing health care infrastructure to combat the pandemic which has spread its tentacles in almost all residential pockets of the twin-cities. Set up by MHADA, the new facility will be handled by the civic administration.
The Late Meenatai Balasaheb Thackeray Community Hall and Late Pramod Mahajan Hall have been converted into well-equipped DCHC’s and will accommodate 160 and 206 beds respectively. Arrangements were being fine-tuned to ensure that the facilities are made operational and made available for patients from Monday. The latest additions will take the capacity of beds in the public, private DCHC’s and dedicated Covid hospitals (DCH) to 913.
This apart from a total of 1,496 beds at the two Covid care centres (CCC) – 682 in Delta Garden ( Kashimira) and 814 at Ramdev Park ( Bhayandar).However, MBMC’s health department faces a major challenge of tackling an acute shortage of manpower to treat coronavirus patients.
“As we increase the bed capacity to tackle any type of medical emergencies, efforts were also on to recruit medicos on a contractual basis via walk-in interviews. Private doctors are also being roped in for the job,” said an official.With the rising threat of the deadly coronavirus, the MBMC has sought additional funds from the state government authorities to enhance and upgrade existing healthcare infrastructure and to create new facilities to mount a renewed battle against the pandemic in the twin-city.
