How Mumbai raced to add more beds than patients after its June unlocking

Nearly half the bed capacity lies unutilised now

Bed capacity was showing signs of strain when Mumbai began lifting its lockdown in early June. The government seems to have added them at a faster pace than occupants, since.

Nearly 80 per cent of the 16,197 available beds in Mumbai were already occupied when unlocking began, according to Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) data of June 3. The latest occupancy numbers suggest that nearly half its current bed capacity lies unoccupied (see chart 1).

Joy Chakraborty, Hinduja Hospital chief operating officer and the chairman (healthcare) at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Western Region said that a fall in new