Covid-19 to improve Kamala Nehru medical infra to reduce referral to Sassoon

PUNE While most public hospitals and the overall public health infrastructure of the city has benefitted during the pandemic in terms of added machinery and manpower, Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) biggest public hospital, Kamala Nehru hospital, is still to get any major equipment

PUNE While most public hospitals and the overall public health infrastructure of the city has benefitted during the pandemic in terms of added machinery and manpower, Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) biggest public hospital, Kamala Nehru hospital, is still to get any major equipment. This was the only PMC hospital in the city which was reserved for non-covid19 patients throughout the pandemic. The state and the PMC are not discussing sharing and distribution of medical equipment and machinery from the COEP jumbo hospital however Kamala Nehru hospital will likely not benefit from the same.

Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC’s) biggest public hospital, Kamala Nehru hospital, is still to get any major equipment (HT FILE PHOTO)

Currently, all critical patients who require ICU and ventilator care are referred to the state government-run Sassoon hospital due to lack of manpower and machinery in any of the PMC’s hospitals. Kamala Nehru hospital will also be attached to the upcoming Atal Bihari medical college, which will be the first medical college run by the PMC, however the additional manpower created by the college will only be beneficial in the next few years during the internship of medical students who will then be able to cater to ICU patients.

Dr Suraj Wani, in-charge of Kamala Nehru hospital, said, “There has not been a major upgrade in the hospital and in the past two years, we have got about one monitor, portable X-ray machine, sonography machine, one operation table, patient monitor and other such equipment. We do have an NICU for paediatric kids and the work for the adult ICU is going on which will be on a PPP basis as decided earlier. As the hospital will be attached to the Atal Bihari medical college, we will also get about 30 more doctors on board which will further increase the strength in the hospital.”

However, without adult and gynaec ICU, the hospital will have to continue to refer patients to the Sassoon general hospital which is the only government hospital in the city with ventilators and ICU facility.

Dr Anjali Sabne, assistant health officer, PMC, said, “We might give some ICU beds and ventilators which we will be receiving from the jumbo hospital to our Kamala Nehru hospital which will definitely reduce the referral of patients to Sassoon. Kamala Nehru is the only major general hospital run by PMC whereas the rest are all maternity hospitals or Naidu which is an infection control hospital. By strengthening the infrastructure at civic-run hospitals, we will also be able to reduce the load on Sassoon general hospital.”