Mumbai: Some units at Jumbo COVID-19 centres to be locked up for now, says BMC

A doctor is vaccinated at the BKC Jumbo COVID Centre. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Jumbo COVID Centres that continue to function even as COVID-19 cases have stabilised in the city, will now be partially operational. The BMC has decided to keep many of the units inside these centres locked to reduce the maintenance cost, but it will not completely shut these centres till at least March 31. The BMC has spent around Rs 213.08 crore till December 2020 on the upkeep of its Jumbo facilities.

The BMC has previously shut down nearly 450 small COVID care facilities across the 24 municipal wards in Mumbai. It will also shut its electricity and daily maintenance at locked up units in Jumbo centres in order to cut the additional cost. The sections shut will be on standby to ensure that they can be operational as and when the need arises. If shut and dismantled, setting up of the Jumbo facilities again in case of a second wave will be a tedious process, said officials.

At present, the BMC has five Jumbo COVID Care facilities in Mumbai - Byculla, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), Nesco grounds (Goregaon-East), Mulund and Dahisar. While the number of COVID-19 cases being brought here is barely in two digits, BMC officials have decided to continue operating these centres with the existing manpower. Also, wherever the cases are few, the BMC will use one part of the operating unit as a vaccination centre for health workers and frontline workers. All the centres are currently being used for vaccination purposes. "The space required is not even one fourth of the total area, and thus the other parts of the facility are closed, but can be put to use whenever the need arises," said a civic official.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, "It is not feasible to set up such huge infrastructure once it is dismantled, and thus we will continue with these Jumbo facilities. However we will keep the sections which are not in use locked, so as to save on the maintenance cost. They will also be an additional resource if needed in the future."

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No. of Jumbo Covid Centres in Mumbai