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Pune civic body to acquire beds at private hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients
In the next seven days, the PMC will acquire 10 per cent of 8,966 beds available at private hospitals which is 896 beds and 10 per cent of private hospital ICU beds out of 455 which is 45 beds, say officials
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is in the process of acquiring beds at private hospitals to treat Covid-19 (coronavirus) patients, especially ones in critical condition, according to civic officials.
Currently, the civic body has 4,143 isolation beds and 151 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and with the further acquisition, this strength will go up to 5,039 isolation beds and 196 ICU beds. The PMC plans to do this within a week, according to officials.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who held a review meeting on Saturday with officials in the city has also instructed the civic body to acquire beds in private hospitals. He said, “Given the fact that Covid-129 cases are rising every day, the administration must acquire beds at private hospitals, educational institutes and hotels in the city where affected persons can be treated.”
PMC commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said, “We are in talks with private hospitals to acquire more beds. Currently, we have finalised the deal with a few hospitals and the acquisition process will start soon.”
“We are looking to acquire more beds, about 100 from a single hospital so that it is easy to transfer patients to the same place and also use our staff to maximum efficiency. We have also exhausted our staff usage for the home-to-home survey swab collection and they are also involved in taking care of the quarantined patients,“ said Gaikwad.
“We are in negotiation with Deenanath Mangeshkar and Sahyadri hospital to seek beds,” he said.
In the next seven days, the PMC will acquire 10 per cent of 8,966 beds available at private hospitals which is 896 beds and 10 per cent of private hospital ICU beds out of 455 which is 45 beds.
Besides, the administration has also identified and will acquire rooms with a capacity to isolate 8,000 people.
Meanwhile, as per the data from the PMC’s health department, the age group of 31-40 continues to remain the most infected with 178 cases out of 980 positive cases as of April 24 (as seen in the graphic). In addition to the senior citizens in the age groups of 60 and above being the most vulnerable group with 18 deaths among the 61-70 age group, the age group of 51-60 has also witnessed about 18 deaths.
Mortality rate down from 12% to 6.5%
City’s mortality rate has come down from 12% to 6.5%, with 64 deaths being reported out of 980 cases as of April 24. As of April 10, 25 deaths were reported with 209 cases, according to PMC. The average mortality rate of the state is 4.8% and India’s average is 3.2% as of April 24. The city’s doubling rate too has gone down from earlier five days in the first week of April to currently as eight days. This means that earlier it took only five days for the positive cases in the city to double, while in the current situation it takes eight days.
