Dedicated COVID Care Centres help 72% of Mumbai police personnel recover
A bed inside the Mumbai police's COVID Care Centre at Marol
Mumbai police's three special COVID Care Centres at Police Gymkhana, Kalina and Marol, with a total 900 beds, have turned out to be game-changers with a recovery rate of 72 per cent so far. Police chief Param Bir Singh is delighted with the results.
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Apart from providing physical care, the centres, started a month-and-a-half ago, are boosting the morale of the frontline force.
"The centres turned out to be game-changers in our fight against COVID-19. My people, who were initially worried and afraid due to the rising number of cases, are no longer scared of the pandemic as they are being taken care of with the best medical facilities.
The three COVID Care Centres together have 900 beds
"Many of them have resumed work after a full recovery," said Singh.
So far 2,510 people from the Mumbai police have been infected, 1,785 have fully recovered and 33 have died. After recovery, 856 have resumed work and 684 are in home quarantine. Currently, 446 are being treated in the police's centres and 226 are in hospitals.
Singh, the brain behind the centres, said, "When the Army goes to war, the injured are taken care of with best medical facilities in army hospitals.
My people are like soldiers now, having a very important role in fighting COVID-19. Hence, we thought of the COVID centres. We have 900 beds in the three COVID-19 centres and only 50 per cent are occupied. The civic commissioner and the state government helped us achieve this."
'Set up in no time'
Applauding the work of his officers, Singh said, "Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjunath Singe, who recently recovered from COVID-19 and Joint Commissioner of Police Naval Bajaj have played an important role in getting this done and the curve is almost flattening for us."
Singh added that over 100 ICU beds are also reserved for city police personnel at SevenHills and Guru Nanak hospitals. Civic doctors are attending to those at the police's centres.
"Early during the lockdown, the number of cases and deaths were increasing as nobody was prepared to deal with such a situation. This affected the morale of police personnel," a senior officer told mid-day.
The centre in Kalina has five buildings with 72 flats in each. The residential buildings were supposed to be handed to Mumbai police in January this year but the project got delayed and work stopped due to the lockdown.
Service extended to others
"Initially, when asymptomatic patients were being admitted and hospitals were overflowing, we were not able to secure beds for policemen. Hence, we thought of having our own centres.
"We are getting calls from other government departments and have extended the service to state police officials based in Mumbai and to CRPF," said Bajaj.
Bajaj added that infected asymptomatic family members of policemen are also being taken care of at the centres.
2,510
Total personnel infected
1,785
No. of those who have fully recovered
446
No. of personnel being treated at the police's COVID centres currently
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