Despite a sharp rise in new cases of COVID under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction, more than 90 percent of ventilators and 78 percent of ICU beds are available. Even the number of beds without oxygen are in available adequate numbers.
As per the civic health department, the majority of the patients are being treated at home isolation and the demand for ICU beds or ventilators is quite low.
The civic body has a total of 794 ICU beds of which only 155 ICU beds are occupied. These include beds available in private hospitals and reserved for Covid patients.
As of January 10, under the NMMC jurisdiction, a total of 243 ventilators are available while the total capacity is 263. “The occupancy of ventilators is less than 10 percent,” said an official from the Civic Health Department.
However, the occupancy of oxygen beds has increased sharply with the rise in active cases in the city. Of the total capacity of 1987 oxygen beds, 1004 beds or 51 percent are occupied on January 10. At present, 983 oxygen beds are available with the city body. Even the availability of beds without oxygen is adequate. Of the total 3858 beds capacity, 2665 beds are available.
At present, the number of active cases is 13619 of which 8195 are on home isolation. Apart from private hospitals, the majority of the patients are being treated at Covid care hospital in the Exhibition centre in Vashi, Export house in Turbhe and Radha Swami Satsang Bhawan in Turbhe. On January 10, 2879, cases were reported which is the highest number of daily cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.
During wave two of Covid, a survey conducted on the occupancy of ICU beds in the city had revealed that more than 40 percent of the patients were from outside the NMMC area. “With better medical facilities available in Navi Mumbai, patients from other cities also tend to flock to the city. A closer look at these hospital facilities revealed that some patients who did not require ICU beds for medical treatment had occupied the ICU beds. Therefore, ICU beds were not available to patients who actually needed,” said a senior civic official.
