Mumbai: Jumbo centres to be closed as Covid-19 cases dip, says BMC

Jumbo Covid Centers or field hospitals in Mumbai will be closed in phases as the number of coronavirus infections has decreased, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Wednesday.

After the first phase of the pandemic, three jumbo care centres had been closed while the rest continued to function. The Somaiya jumbo centre in Sion area will be kept ready in case there is fresh necessity, the BMC said in a release. COVID-19 patients will be treated at the four main civic-run hospitals and 16 suburban hospitals besides the Kasturba hospital in Chinchpokli. Even after the closure of eight jumbo covid-19 centres, 11,165 beds will be available across hospitals in the city for COVID-19 patients and if necessary more beds can be added, the BMC said. The civic body set up its first jumbo Covid centre, a field hospital, at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) on May 18, 2020, two months after the first COVID-19 case was found in the metropolis. As the pandemic went on, the civic body set up eight jumbo Covid centres with a total of 12,375 regular beds and 907 ICU beds where lakhs of patients were treated in two years.

The civic body later opened inoculation centres at these field hospitals. In the last few months, the number of Covid-19 patients getting admitted to hospitals is negligible, hence the BMC decided to close jumbo centres in phases, said additional municipal commissioner Sanjeev Kumar. Jumbo Covid centres at NESCO Goregaon, Dahisar and Kanjurmarg were closed in the first phase and those at Worli, BKC, Byculla, Mulund and Malad will be closed in the second phase.