15-bed ward for children with mild to moderate measles infection will open at civic-run Shivaji Nagar maternity home, which is close to the worst measles outbreak hotspot of Rafiq Nagar, in the next couple of days."We will have resident doctors from KEM Hospital, Parel, as well as some doctors on contract. We will also have nurses from Kasturba Hospital, Chinchpokli, to manage the ward,’’ said BMC executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare. The ward will be overseen by Dr Chandrakant Pawar, who is the medical superintendent of Kasturba Hospital, which is BMC’s infectious diseases hospital.
Measles patients cannot be kept with regular patients, given how infectious the viral disease is. Hence, the BMC earmarked five beds in Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, 10 beds in Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi and 83 beds in Kasturba Hospital to manage the ongoing outbreak of the disease. During the visit of the central government team to Govandi, the residents had complained about the lack of health infrastructure and wanted the municipal corporation to upgrade its existing urban health centre in Shivaji Nagar. The BMC has stepped up house-to-house surveys and vaccinations in a bid to control the situation. The measles tally in Mumbai rose to 176 on Friday, up from 169 a day earlier, while the number of suspected deaths remained unchanged at eight, a civic official said.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's bulletin issued here late evening said the suspected cases of measles stood at 2,860.