In a 37 minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire Dr. Shashank Joshi, who is also a leading endocrinologist, said both private and public hospitals in Mumbai have run short of beds, oxygen, and ventilators. He said the problem facing private hospitals is explained by the fact that a far bigger number of well-off people have been infected in the second surge because of their lax Covid behavior. They have pushed up numbers in private hospitals close to breaking point. As a result, Dr. Joshi said his own hospital, Lilavati, has been forced to convert the elevator lobby into an emergency Covid ward.

However, Dr. Joshi also said the situation in Mumbai’s public hospitals was grim and accepts that several hospitals like Dahisar Jumbo Centre, NESCO Jumbo Centre, BKC Jumbo Centre, Babha Bandra, and Sion are turning away patients because they don’t have beds. However, he added, the BMC is taking urgent steps to make the War Room functioning faster and more effectively. In the interview he gives details.