MUMBAI: The rapid spread of Covid-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant has started to hit the city’s hospitals hard and crippled departments.
The state-run JJ Hospital confirmed more than 100 infections in the past seven days while more than 300 resident doctors across the city’s medical colleges are currently infected and in isolation.
Byculla’s JJ Hospital has seen an outbreak of Covid-19 cases with 73 resident doctors, 21 faculty members, including the institute’s dean, and scores of staffers from Class III and IV testing positive. Several patients hospitalised for non-Covid ailments too have tested positive. The surge has been so rapid and wide that positive staffers from JJ alone have filled up wards at its affiliated hospitals—St George and GT.
The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Wednesday said that all civic-run medical colleges in the city have seen an explosion of cases in the past few days. Data collated by the body showed that 73 resident doctors were infected in JJ, 45 in BYL Nair, 60 at Parel’s KEM, 80 at LTMG (Sion Hospital) and seven in RN Cooper, Juhu. Eight cases have also been reported from Rajiv Gandhi Medical College in Thane, while government colleges in Dhule, Miraj, Nagpur and Aurangabad have together reported 18 cases.
Authorities at JJ Hospital said a separate ward has been created at GT Hospital to accommodate resident doctors. “All positive faculty members are also being hospitalised,” said a senior authority who didn’t want to be named. The official said if the surge in cases continues, they would have to take a decision on halting routine non-Covid procedures. “It’s difficult to tell the source of infection as it could be anyone, but it hasn’t come from a single cluster,” the official said. A senior doctor said several departments, short on staff, have put procedures on hold.
BMC officials said they are watching the JJ situation closely. “We are monitoring the cases. Since there are so many cases in the community, hospitals cannot escape infections altogether,” said Manish Walanju, assistant commissioner of E Ward. While KEM had started seeing a rise in infections from December-end, Sion Hospital saw a rapid jump in the past few days. Dean Dr Mohan Doshi said a few nurses and four faulty members are also infected.
MARD has demanded resident doctors be allowed adequate time to recover and be extended best medical care. “We were already working with two-thirds of the strength. The wave of infections has worsened workload for those who are not infected yet,” said Dr Avinash Dahiphale, president, central MARD. He added resident doctors should be isolated in wards since they live in cramped quarters where the infections could spread fast.
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