Battle for Mumbai

With hospitals and their staff stretched to the limit, Mumbai struggles to cope with the rise in Covid-19 cases

- POOJA BIRAIA JAISWAL

ON THE EVENING of May 23, a family from Mumbai’s suburban Andheri ran from one end of the city to the other to find a hospital bed for a 58-year-old who complained of increasing breathlessness. They visited five hospitals, but were told that no beds were available in the critical care unit. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, they managed to admit the patient in the general ward of a dedicated Covid-19 hospital. The patient was diagnosed with pneumonia, but the oxygen support came too late. He died at around 6.30am.

This is not an isolated case. As of May 26, Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra have crossed the 50,000 mark. Mumbai alone has more than 30,000 cases. The city is struggling to cope with the surge in cases. Its hospitals are stretched to capacity and there is an acute shortage of beds, especially in the ICUs. Frontline health workers are facing emotional and physical exhaustion. Dead bodies are left behind in wards for hours on end, and ambulances take hours to reach critical patients. And, there are lapses, like the one recounted by Malini Shinde (name changed), a resident of Prabhadevi. Her neighbour tested positive and was hospitalised, but none of his close contacts were approached by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) nor were they quarantined.