...u00a0there are no ICU beds in Mumbai hospitals to accommodate you, say city docs. Malaria wave takes up most space, with shortage of medicines and patients developing complications

When 65-year-old Jaisingh Yadhav complained of acute breathlessness, owing to a heart ailment, he and his family had no inkling that they would have to shuttle for over three hours between their Versova residence, Bandra and back to Andheri.

Turns out that a majority of ICU beds in Mumbai are now occupied by malaria patients.

According to BMC figures,u00a0 over 6,300 malaria cases have been reported in the last nine months. This is an increase of nearly 47 per cent from 2,300 cases in the corresponding period last year, a trend attributed to the high humidity levels and soaring temperatures.

'We were helpless'
"My dad's condition was deteriorating in front of my eyes, but we were helpless. Luckily, the Holy Family hospital agreed to take the ECG and initiated the medical process to stabilise him. But when the question arose to keep him for the night in an ICU, we had to shift him to the Brahmakumari Hospital in Andheri," complains Yadhav's 18-year-old son, Nitin.u00a0

Yadhav's cardiologist Dr Robin Pinto categorically states that his patient's case was not an isolated one. Heart patients are routinely turned back by hospitals as their ICU units are filled with malaria patients.
"The monsoons in Mumbai may have been less than anticipated, but it has brought along much more than its fair share of malaria. With little or no space in ICUs, how will people with heart ailments get treated?" asks Dr Pinto.