COVID-19: Mumbai hospitals conduct mock drills; check ICUs, oxygen supply and manpower preparedness

Civic and government hospitals in Mumbai conducted mock drills on Tuesday to check their COVID-19 wards and facilities available for patients in the wake of a spurt in cases of the viral disease in China and other countries, officials said.

A doctor from the government-run J J Hospital here said they checked the preparedness of their COVID-19 ward, medicine, X-ray and oxygen supply units.

A doctor from the civic-run Seven Hills Hospital said as part of the drill, they ''checked everything right from the process of admission of patients, shifting them to the Intensive Care Unit, following the ICU processes, and checking whether they had taken single, double or booster doses of vaccine.'' The hospital's oxygen pipeline, ICU equipment and manpower preparedness were also checked during the exercise, the doctor said.

Dr Chandrakant Pawar, medical superintendent of the civic-run Kasturba Hospital which treats patients with infectious diseases, also said they checked their readiness to handle any situation.

J J Hospital's Dean Dr Pallavi Saple told PTI that they conducted the mock drill as per the instructions from health authorities.

In the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases in some countries like China, Japan, Brazil and South Korea, the Union government has issued guidelines, asking the hospitals to conduct mock exercises across the country.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said all state health ministers will take part at their level in the mock drill to be conducted throughout the country at all COVID-19 hospitals as part of the precautionary measures.

Among the COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, the Seven Hills Hospital has 1,700 beds, Kasturba Hospital - 35 beds, government-run Cama Hospital-100 beds, St George Hospital-70 beds, Tata Hospital- 16 beds and Jagjivan Ram Hospital-12 beds.

The hospitals have been asked to upload all reports collected during the drill on the Union government's dedicated portal for COVID-19.

As per a release issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release issued about preparedness of the ''health infrastructure'' on Monday, it has identified 10 civic hospitals, three government hospitals and 21 private hospitals having 2,124 isolation beds, of which 1,523 are functional.

The hospitals have 1,613 oxygen-supported beds and of those 1,021 are functional.

They have 579 ICU beds, of which 473 are functional and of the 1,079 ventilators, 954 are functional, the release said.

Out of the 3,245 doctors, 3,453 paramedics and 5,784 nurses, as many as 2,828 doctors, 3,246 paramedics and 4,029 nurses are trained in COVID-19 management, it said.

To diagnose and track COVID-19 cases, the city has a daily testing capacity of 1,35,035 at 34 hospitals and 49 laboratories, according to the release.

Also, the stock of medicines like Remdesivir, Tocilizumab, Methylprednisolone, Dexamethasone, Amphotericin B Deoxycholate and Posaconazole is available.

''The medicines will be procured and made available in future if cases increase,'' the release said, adding that PPE kits, N-95 masks, nebulizers and pulse oximeters are available in adequate quantity.

The city has 859 functional oxygen concentrators and 2,933 oxygen cylinders, apart from 79 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants of 1,468 metric tons capacity and liquid medical oxygen of 268 metric tons capacity, it added.