COEP jumbo facility shuts shop, equipments to be distributed among PMC, PCMC hosps
PUNE After treating at least 3,000 patients and being embroiled in multiple controversies, the dismantling of the jumbo hospital at College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground began on Monday after two years of service
PUNE After treating at least 3,000 patients and being embroiled in multiple controversies, the dismantling of the jumbo hospital at College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground began on Monday after two years of service.
Set up at the initial cost of ₹75 crore in June 2020, when the city was facing shortage of beds, the jumbo facility at COEP ground, Shivajinagar had 800 beds. As the contract for the hospital will end on March 28, the contractor has started to dismantle it.
The COEP jumbo facility was the first such set up to be built exclusively for Covid-19 patients. The facility was virtually inaugurated by CM Uddhav Thackeray on August 28, 2020. The facility has total 800 beds, of which 600 were oxygen beds and 200 were ICU beds. The COEP jumbo facility was set up as a dedicated Covid Hospital for patients with sever symptoms and so the death rate of the hospital, 21.60%, is also higher compared to other hospitals.
However, in the first few months the hospital came under heavy criticism after relatives of the admitted complained of lack of coordination between the staff of various departments, lack of medicines, high death rate, medical negligence and shortage of beds. The facility never reached its full potential in the first wave in September as only 600 beds were functional.
Despite the faults in the functioning of the facility, the hospital was also crucial in saving multiple lives. Dr Shreyansh Kapale, director of Medbros, the agency which ran the Jumbo facility said, “As of now the centre has been shut since the past few months and we have already handed over all the reports, documents and also the beds and ventilators to the district administration.”
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, PMC assistant health officer said, “We have audited all the ventilators and beds and packed the machines. During the last meeting with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar it was decided that the machinery would be distributed among PMC, PCMC and Pune rural as well. Once the facility is shut down the machinery would be shifted to our hospitals to upgrade our facility.”