Four quarantined in Kasturba Hospital; BMC trains doctors on Covid-19 care – Times of India

MUMBAI: Four travellers with suspected novel coronavirus symptoms were admitted at civic-run Kasturba Hospital’s quarantine facility on Sunday, even as the BMC stepped up its preparedness by starting daily training sessions for doctors on the treatment.
These daily training sessions will be held at Kasturba Hospital. “The sessions were initially planned for our own doctors, but any private practitioners who wants to learn how to manage isolation units can attend them,” said additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani. The sessions are being conducted by Dr Jayanti Shastri, who heads the BMC molecular diagnostic laboratory where the Covid-19 tests are carried out.
Kakani added that BMC could on very short notice mobilise over 100 quarantine beds. While Kasturba currently has 28 beds operational, it can be increased to 60. The municipality can also add 25 beds each at Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, Bhabha hospitals in Bandra and Kurla, and the trauma care hospital in Jogeshwari with 24-hour notice.
On Sunday, four patients with varied travel history got admitted to Kasturba Hospital’s quarantine facility with complaints of cough and fever. “We had 12 suspected coronavirus patients on Saturday, but they were discharged after testing negative for the virus,” said Kakani.
Health minister Rajesh Tope on Sunday said there was no postive coronavirus case among the 258 admitted in quaratine facilities across the state. At present, 15 suspected coronavirus patients are in hospital and awaiting their test results. Over 1.06 lakh travellers reaching Mumbai international airport were screened for the virus between January 18 and March 8. Of these, 560 were from Maharashtra.