Some Covid-19 centres in Bengaluru may shut as cases drop

With hundreds of beds empty across the 11 Covid-19 Care Centres (CCC) operated by the government in the city, officials are considering shutting down as many as five, including the ambitious Covid-19 Care hub set up at Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC).

If closed, some 2,614 out of 4,276 existing beds would likely be scrapped.

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Rajendra Kataria, the IAS officer who is in charge of the centres, explained that the consideration is being made because of a persistent 20% vacancy across the CCCs, coupled with the fact that Bengaluru’s Covid-19 positivity rate is gradually declining.

Government data shows that between 790 and 1,100 beds are generally empty in all on any given day across the 11 centres.

An average of 300 people are discharged every day and about 400 new cases are admitted every day.

“About 13 to 15% of newly diagnosed daily cases are sent to CCCs,” Kataria said.

Another officer suggested that these numbers are not enough to sustain the centres, considering rental and operational costs, such as medical staff salaries, cost of food and other expendables. Long distances are also said to be behind a consideration to close down some of the CCCs.

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BIEC, in a distant Dasanapura, is already dealing with a reduced capacity. It has only 5,000 operational beds out of the 10,100 originally slotted. Out of these, only 1,500 beds in one hall are operational.

“It costs the exchequer between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 to care for a single person admitted into a CCC for four to five days,” an officer said. So far, some 6,500 people have been discharged from CCCs since late June.

Meanwhile, Kataria explained the scaling-down would happen based on what the city’s Covid-19 numbers look like two weeks from now. “Despite increased testing, only about 2,000 new cases are being reported every day,” he said.