Mumbai civic body introduces ‘war rooms’ in every administrative ward to manage COVID beds

Facing flak for critical Covid-19 patients having to run from one hospital to another in search of beds, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to set up ‘war rooms’ at the level of administrative wards to decentralise the allocation of beds.

These administrative ward-level centres, with their own helpline numbers, will be responsible for everything from finding out the symptoms of Covid-positive patients in their area, conducting medical tests, arranging for ambulances and getting them beds in the BMC’s Covid care facilities, and for critical patients, in hospitals. Mumbai has 24 administrative wards.

Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Chahal told reporters: “As of now, the BMC is using the network of its disaster control helpline number 1916 for primary management of beds. But, as the number of Covid patients has multiplied, so have the facilities to take care of them.

“So, instead of managing hospital beds in a centralised manner, we have undertaken this initiative to allot them beds at the (administrative) ward level itself to ensure it’s more speedy and efficient.”

Mumbai has recorded 48,774 Covid-19 cases as of Sunday, which is 60 per cent of the cases in Maharashtra, of which 25,940 cases are still active. – The Print