PMC to convert Annasaheb Magar hospital in Hadapsar into dedicated paediatric Covid facility

PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun to convert the Annasaheb Magar hospital in Hadapsar into a dedicated paediatric Covid facility

PUNE The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has begun to convert the Annasaheb Magar hospital in Hadapsar into a dedicated paediatric Covid facility.

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PMC health officials said that the existing medical facilities at the hospital such as OPDs, surgeries, and vaccination centres would be shifted to other locations, not finalised yet.

The paediatric Covid facility will have 50 oxygenated beds. It will be the second dedicated paediatric Covid facility prepared by the civic body. Currently, Rajiv Gandhi hospital in Yerwada is ready with a 200-bed capacity.

“We are all hoping that the third Covid wave will not happen, but we have to be prepared just in case the Covid infection spreads amongst the paediatric group. So these arrangements are made. I have just taken the charge and will soon visit both facilities at the Rajiv Gandhi hospital and the Magar hospital. I am told that the work is in progress,” Ravindra Binwade, additional municipal commissioner, PMC, said.

The Annasaheb Magar facility is a maternity hospital run by PMC. “The preliminary work to convert it into a paediatric Covid facility has started. We will have to shift the general medical facilities offered at the hospital such as OPDs, general OPDs, immunisation centre, somewhere else. We are in the process of this planning,” said Dr Ashish Bharati, chief medical officer, PMC.

Dr Bharati also said that the civic body plans to have general Covid hospitals in each zone. “Currently COEP jumbo facility is closed. The number of patients are also few, so there is no inconvenience caused. Our new facility in Baner is also ready. In the second wave, more cases were observed from the Kharadi, Hadapsar area. So we planned that paediatric hospital in this part,” said Dr Bharati.

PMC currently has prepared a 200-bed paediatric Covid facility at the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Yerwada. However, no admissions have been recorded in this facility so far. There are 160 oxygenated beds in this facility and 40 are ICU beds.

PMC has also closed its Covid care centres. Currently, only one CCC in Yerwada with 18 patients is functional. “If we want we can make these centres operational again. The CCC in Yerwada is functional because it is run in partnership with an NGO. The other 13 have been inoperative for over a month now,” said Rajendra Muthe, deputy Commissioner, PMC.

Currently, the COEP jumbo facility has been closed and the process of a structural audit of the infrastructure is underway. According to the PMC officials, the audit report is awaited.