Jumbo isolation facilities at Dahisar, Mulund to ease pressure on KEM, Sion hosps

In an effort to stop critical Covid-19 patients from MMR towns travelling all the way to Sion and KEM hospitals, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has made isolation facilities with ICUs and oxygen beds at Dahisar check Naka and Mulund check naka for them.

According to Iqbal Singh Chahal BMC commissioner, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Mira-Bhayander, VasaiVirar need a stringent lockdown measure. "In these cities, there is a spurt in cases as the district and local body administration have failed in proper tracing, tracking, testing and treatment. They need to follow the chase the virus policy that the BMC adopted and start testing and tracing aggressively," Chahal said.

He added,"Instead of shifting critical patients all the way to civic-run hospitals in Mumbai, these patients can be accommodated and treated at ICU's and oxygenated beds available at isolation facilities at Dahisar Check naka and Mulund Check naka. The two facilities can prove to be helpful for MMR patients as well as patients from Mumbai. Nearly 1,100 patients belonging to MMR are occupying beds in Mumbai hospitals."

According to Chahal the facility at Mulund Check Naka has 120 ICU beds. It can accommodate and cater to patients coming from Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar etc, while the one at Dahisar Check naka can cater to patients from Mira-Bhayander, VasaiVirar, Palghar etc.

The dedicated COVID-19 health centre in Mulund, with the capacity of 1,700 beds, has been set up by CIDCO. The 900-bed centre in Dahisar (east) has been set up with the help of the MMRC. Chahal added, "We have cleared all the backlog of death cases. Starting July 2, we are getting on those death cases that have occurred within 48 hours. However in the cases reported daily some of the death cases are of patients from MMR region, who died at a Mumbai hospital. It is only after the analysis of cases later, the case is reported as MMR and reported and informed to the concerned authority."

MMR towns had sought protection in May as over 70 per cent of their cases comprised essential workers commuting to Mumbai. The request was denied. This according to officials in the rest of the MMR region led to a spurt in cases via people travelling to and fro from then worst affected Mumbai.