Maharashtra: No hospital beds for non-Covid-19 patients in Mumbai

Mumbai: A 76-year-old non-Covid-19 patient has died in Mumbai after several private hospitals refused to admit him to the ICU. The incident has illustrated the difficulty for non-Covid patients to be admitted in the city.

Mohammad Bhai from Bhendi Bazaar was afflicted by malaria and 10 days his family tried to find a bed in a private hospital in South Mumbai without success. He died on Wednesday.

“Our family members tried all the private hospitals in south Mumbai. However all of them said that they had no beds for non-Covid-19 patients. In the last two days, my father’s health worsened and the local doctor treating him asked us to get him admitted to an ICU. Hospitals simply refused saying that they have no ICUs left for non-Covid patients,” said his daughter.


Mohammad Bhai’s family tried the state-run BYL Nair Hospital but were purportedly told that the patient would have to be in a Covid-19 ward and tested before he was given treatment. “We wanted a private hospital as the experience at Nair wasn’t great,” she said.

Zohra Morbiwala who tried to help the family said that they had come across more cases where hospitals refused to admit non-Covid-19 patients. “Some hospital are asking us for a reference. The government needs to step in and ensure that beds are available for everyone,” said Zohra Morbiwala to ET.

This problem is prevalent across the state. The Nationalist Congress Party, one of the ruling coalition members had raised the issue with Health Minister Rajesh Tope.

Rupali Chakankar the head of the NCP’s women wing had written to Tope seeking the minster’s intervention in resolving the issue as several private hospitals across the state were not admitting non-Covid-19 patients.

However, private hospitals have ignored Tope’s subsequent directive, the same way they have overlooked the state’s order on capping the money charged for treatment of Covid-19 patients.