JOIN USMaharashtra govt gives nod to set up 5,000-bed Covid-19 hospital
As India battles waves of Covid-19 pandemic, the Maharashtra government has set the ball rolling for a 5,000-bed infectious diseases hospital in Mumbai.
This would be the biggest such facility in the country.
The Kasturba Hospital in Sane Guruji Marg, which is run by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is the only dedicated hospital for infectious diseases in Mumbai and it has just 125 beds.
As of now, several civic and government-owned hospitals in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) have been converted into Covid-19 hospitals to deal with the current pandemic.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has given a go-ahead to the project after a series of meetings with Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal.
The BMC’s land acquisition department has invited Expression of Interest for land acquisition for the mega-project that is expected to be located in the northern suburbs of the commercial capital of India.
The BMC has received two bids for the proposal.
The BMC has implemented a 5T Covid-19 response process involving testing, tracing, triaging and containment, treatment and transparent communication. It has further implemented an IT-based solution for capturing all the essential details pertaining to Covid-19 and making it available effectively to the citizens.
Most of the processes are online which includes notifying the availability of beds and allotment of beds to the virus-affected citizens.
The EOI note states that the BMC took initiative for augmenting the existing health infrastructure as well as constructing jumbo facilities at various places in Greater Mumbai. Considering the large scale requirement of beds, the BMC is instrumental in putting up 22,756 beds capacity out of which 1,738 beds are ICCU, 11,250 beds are oxygenated, 1054 beds are ventilator beds.
The proposed 5,000-bed hospital may be located in the suburban region of Mumbai so that it serves the population of Mumbai as well as patients coming from MMR which also comprises the neighbouring districts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad.
Further, the location of the proposed hospital would be in close proximity to either Eastern Express Highway or Western Express Highway.
Any landowner/developer having undisputed vacant land excluding CRZ/ ND2/ forest land of any kind with clear and marketable title minimum 20 acres in size located in the suburban area of Mumbai was eligible to apply. After finalising the land parcel, the land under reservations shall be acquired under Section 126 (1)(a) & (b) of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act and remaining land shall be acquired by mutual consent through negotiation.