The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has started building another 1,000-bed COVID-19 hospital at Bandra Kurla Complex. Unlike the previous hospital, this one is being built for critical, symptomatic patients.
The authority has started base work and ground levelling for the second hospital. “The facility will be constructed a little ahead of the existing Phase I of the COVID-19 care centre,” an MMRDA spokesperson said.
The second hospital will have 100 intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The other 900 beds will be divided into oxygen and non-oxygen facilities equally.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope, had, on Tuesday, noted the shortage of ICU beds in the city and assured that efforts were under way to increase capacity under all categories. He had said they were aiming to have 1,000 ICU beds across the city soon.
Phase I of the hospital, which was handed over to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday, was built in under 15 days. It has a capacity of 1,008 beds, of which 504 have oxygen supply. The hospital is built in a ‘German tent’ and has been designed to function through the monsoon season. It is also equipped with a pathology lab, ECG and X-ray machines, and a storage facility. It has 10 mobile ICU beds. The BMC has appointed 13 doctors, eight nurses and 14 ward boys, and may increase the number of personnel as per requirement.
