In a belated but much needed move the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally introduced an online booking facility for beds to ensure a smoother and hassle-free admission process for Covid-19 patients. While the live dashboard was conceptualized by former civic chief- -Chandrakant Dange during his tenure, the online booking mechanism was in its final stages of launch a few days before his abrupt transfer last month.
It took more than a month for the civic administration to fine tune the modalities of the online portal. With real time updates, the live public dashboard will show availability of beds- both normal and ICU, vacant and filled, in the municipal as well as private hospitals. People needing beds can visit the website,www.covidbedmbmc.in to login and register for beds by filling a form for admissions to hospitals that is near their current location. Apart from this ambulance and hearse facility during emergencies or death can be also availed with the help of dedicated helpline number-022-28141516 which according to officials will be operational round-the-clock. While hospitals have been asked to provide and update the right information about beds, the civic administration will also cross-verify the same by surprise visits to hospitals, officials said. Hospitals are also mandated to install visible boards displaying availability status of beds under both categories, along with prescribed rates, failing which the civic administration is empowered to initiate punitive action against erring medical institutions. The total number of cumulative Covid-19 patient’s in the twin-city has reached 7,682. The death toll has also climbed to 256. On the other hand 5,770 patients have so far recovered pulling down the total number of active cases to 1656.Presently 13 private hospitals have tied up with the MBMC under the 80:20 pattern to facilitate Covid-19 treatment.