A 42-year-old Unani practitioner from Mumbai’s Govandi area with severe breathlessness, diarrhoea and failing kidney function had to wait nearly 30 hours to get an Intensive Care Unit bed with dialysis facility. By the time he got it on Thursday morning at the SL Raheja Hospital in Mahim, his condition was critical.
The family’s ordeal continued even after getting a bed as no ambulance was ready to ferry a patient who had potentially been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 exposure. “One driver eventually agreed but he said that we cannot use the bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machine [for intensive breathing assistance] from his ambulance. So, we took the risk and shifted him merely on oxygen support,” said the patient’s brother.
Interactive map of confirmed coronavirus cases in India | State-wise tracker for coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates
Nearly 40 days after the SARS-CoV-2 hit Mumbai, the city’s health infrastructure is crumbling with persons suffering from other diseases scurrying for beds. The city has 1,900 isolation beds and nearly 200 ICU beds.
The city reported its first positive case on March 11. On Thursday, the total number of cases had gone up to 2,073, and the death to