Not a single bed is occupied in the COVID-19 Care Centre - 2 (CCC2) facilities in as many as four wards of Mumbai. The city's A ward (Cuffe Parade, Churchgate and Colaba), C ward (Bhuleshwar and Mumbadevi), PS ward (Goregaon and Aarey Colony) and S ward (Bhandup and Powai) feature on the list.
In April, the civic body had set up three tier care systems to classify the admitted patients. The CCC2 facilities include those that were set up at government centres with healthcare workers. CCC1 facilities were set up at lodges, halls and newly constructed buildings. The CCC1 facilities didn't have round the clock medical facilities.
Also, presently, more than 50 per cent of all the CCC2 facilities in Mumbai have a bed vacancy of over 90 per cent.
A ward corporator Harshita Narwekar told FPJ that in her ward, most of the people from its slum pockets have not been tested, which is why the beds are empty. "Not enough tests are being done in the slum areas of A ward, because of which the beds are unoccupied," stated Narwekar.
Civic officials stated that the beds in the CCC2 facilities are now vacant because most of the patients are being isolated at their homes. "In the wards that have a vacancy of more than 90 per cent, maximum cases have been reported from buildings and gated apartments. Most of these patients have been isolated at their homes in a separate room," stated a senior BMC health officer.
"The main occupants of the CCC2 beds are those who hail from slum areas and congested localities, as they don't have isolation facilities in the chawls. But now, daily more than 90 per cent of the cases are being reported from buildings," the official added.
As a result, the civic body is all set to close down a number of CCC2 facilities in the city now. Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) Parag Masurkar told FPJ that, in each ward, there will be two CCC2 facilities from now on.
"The number of cases in Mumbai is gradually becoming less. Also, as most of the patients are asymptomatic, we are putting them into home quarantine, so most of the CCC facilities will be shut and the manpower will be used somewhere else," stated Masurkar.
