Mumbai: With a surge in covid-19 cases across Maharashtra, Mumbai is running out of hospital beds to accommodate patients, with some of them being forced to wait for more than 10 hours to undergo treatment, a source said on Wednesday.
For the last ten days, Mumbai has been witnessing an increase of 1200 and 1800 corona positive patients every single day. According to reports, 1916 helpline of the municipal corporation has received 72,000 calls so far, out of which 21,000 calls have been made for beds while 11,000 calls were for ambulances. Reports say, even patients with coronavirus are being compelled to stay at home due to the non-availability of hospital beds.
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After the outbreak of coronavirus, the state government reserved beds for corona patients in many hospitals including Kasturba Hospital. Approximately 3,960 beds were reserved for positive patients and 5,500 beds were kept separately for patients suffering from other ailments. But later, when the number of patients in Mumbai started increasing, Nair, GT, St. George's, Seven Hill, Trauma Care and other hospitals were turned into a Covid hospital to meet the demand.
Reportedly, with an increase in demand, 80 per cent of the beds in private hospitals will now be kept under the provision for coronavirus patients. In addition to this, private hospitals will have to provide Covid-19 treatment at regulated rates, a source said.
