Grim Situation: Top Doctor At Mumbai's KEM Hospital, Among City's Biggest

The situation at the ground level in Mumbai, battling the massive surge in coronavirus cases, is grim, a top doctor at one of the city's largest hospitals, said. The city reported 10,030 cases and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours. This is the highest one-rise in deaths in Mumbai since October.

Hospitals in Mumbai have seen a 300 per cent jump in admissions over the last few months even as the bed allotment process has been streamlined by the civic body to avoid chaos and crowding at hospitals.

"The situation at the ground level is very grim. The number of cases has been increasing for the last, almost four weeks," Dr Hemant Deshmukh, dean of KEM Hospital, told NDTV.

KEM Hospital alone has 228 Covid patients admitted as of now. The hospital takes only those patients who are in a critical condition.

"The bed augmentation in the city of Mumbai has reached its maximum. We have enough number of vacant beds right now for mild and moderate disease," he said.

As several hospital s in Maharashtra have reported shortage of oxygen cylinders needed to care for critical patients, the doctor said there is an immediate need for oxygen supply as well as medication.
"What we require right now is enough supply of oxygen as well as medications to treat these patients who are being wheeled in," Dr Deshmukh said.

In the second wave of the pandemic, particularly in the cities, young people appear to be more vulnerable to the virus.

"Patients who are coming right now are from the age group of 35 to 55, more than any other age group. Though (people ) under 35 are also getting affected, children are getting affected," Dr Deshmukh said.

Maharashtra, the country's worst-hit state, reported 55,469 cases and 297 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The centre on Tuesday said that vaccinations against COVID-19 will not be opened up to a wider group anytime soon, saying that the most vulnerable groups need to be covered first.

Today, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope told NDTV that parts of Maharashtra may run out of Covid vaccines in three days and that the centre has been asked for more. "We don't have doses in most of our vaccination centres and they had to shut down. They are sending people back because of lack of doses. I have been asking you to supply vaccine to us," he said.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow people above 25 years of age to receive the vaccine. His Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal too called for the vaccination drive to be widened.