COEP Jumbo Covid care centre likely to shut down next week

PUNE As second wave of Covid-19 infections ebbs, with the number of active cases in Pune district dropping, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is likely to shut down its jumbo Covid care facility at the COEP grounds next week

PUNE As second wave of Covid-19 infections ebbs, with the number of active cases in Pune district dropping, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is likely to shut down its jumbo Covid care facility at the COEP grounds next week.

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The centre currently has 43 active patients who are likely to be discharged within a week’s time. The jumbo facility is the largest government Covid-19 centre in the district with a capacity of 800 oxygenated and ICU beds. The centre, however, never operated at capacity.

Dr Shreyansh Kapale, director of Medbros, the company running the centre, said, “We will shut down services soon. We had stopped admitting new Covid19 patients a week ago and those admitted will be discharged after treatment, which should be this week. After the first wave too, we had stopped admission after the number of new cases dropped. The centre was then shut down.”

The decision on whether to maintain the structure or demolish it, will be taken by the PMC. Additional commissioner Rubal Agarwal said, “Regarding the structure, we will take a call after a structural audit. As of now, the current audit is valid till July 15. Once all the patients are discharged we will take a call.”

As of June 20, the hospital had seen 3,000 admissions since its inauguration in August. Of these, 43 were active Covid-19 patients. The remaining included 650 deaths, 445 under the grouping of “discharge against medical advice (Dama) and 1,871 sent to home isolation or transferred elsewhere.

The jumbo centre has a case fatality rate of 21.60% and a Dama rate of 15%.