Hospitals in Mumbai will carry out mock drills on Tuesday to check the preparedness of health facilities to handle any spike in COVID-19 cases, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said. In the wake of a spurt 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.In Mumbai, the medical facilities which will conduct the mock drill include the civic-run Seven Hills Hospital (having 1,700 beds) and 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).
According to civic doctors, the exercise is designed to check the readiness and response of hospitals in the wake of a rise in COVID-19 cases in some countries.They have been asked to upload all reports collected during the drill on the Union government's dedicated portal for COVID-19.As per the BMC's 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. 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.