Mid-day checks in at Mumbai’s civic hospitals and finds mandatory training not started yet and special OPDs to be set up only mid-June. While some hospitals say that we will be prepared before the monsoon arrives, some say that we are already prepared
KEM Hospital says they haven’t received any training yet. File pic
Though heavy rain has already lashed the city through April and May and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been issuing yellow and orange alerts periodically for the city and Konkan region, the city’s civic hospitals seem to be taking it easy with respect to monsoon preparedness. As per climate experts, if the ongoing pattern of rain continues, monsoon could reach Mumbai as early as June 1, almost a fortnight before the normal June 11 onset. mid-day tried to do a ground-check on hospitals’ preparedness for the monsoon.
Training not done yet
The BMC conducts training for the heads of the department of community medicine of all major civic hospitals every year before monsoon season. “So far, we haven’t received any call from the department for the regular training. We had expected that the training may happen earlier considering the early rain. In the training they guide us on which medicines to stock up, how to collect data of malaria and dengue cases and communicate that to the department daily, how to manage workload and designate separate wards and extra beds in the hospital etc,” said Dr Vinaykumar Singh, head of the department of community medicine at KEM Hospital.
Thunderstorms lashed the city on Tuesday as seen on the WEH in Kandivli. Pic/Satej Shinde
Echoing the same, Dr Shailesh Mohite, dean at Nair Hospital said, “The training generally happens in the last week of May or first week of June. We haven’t received any communication yet.” On the other hand, however, on their individual hospital level, Dr Mohite mentioned that they are quite prepared, in case there is a sudden rise in malaria or dengue cases.
“We began preparing for monsoon-related cases from May 1. At present, as per every year’s number of cases, we have an adequate number of medical testing kits that are needed to conduct tests for these diseases. We will also set up the special OPD, dedicated to only monsoon-related cases, by June 1. Also, provision to arrange separate beds for those needing hospitalisation for malaria and dengue will be set up by the first week of June,” added Dr Mohite.
No need to rush
Furthermore, the management at Sion Hospital also opines that there is no need to rush for monsoon preparation as these rains are just a part of pre-monsoons. “Considering that we are short on staff given the current vacation period, we will set up the special OPD only around June 10 or June 15, once the rains get severe. As of now, we do not see any alarming medical situation that could arise because of the current rainfall which cannot be handled by our regular OPD,” said Dr Mohan Joshi, dean at Sion Hospital.
Nair Hospital said they were prepared to tackle any surge in malaria or dengue cases as they began monsoon preparation on May 1. File pic
Dr Sudhir Medhekar, dean at Cooper Hospital, also mentioned that they have not received any directives from the corporation to begin with any special arrangements for the monsoon. All hospitals, however, have diesel generators in place — a must for the monsoon season considering expected power cuts.
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