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PMC Covid-19 war room sees drop in calls; civic body to curtail staff
According to officials, from the last four days, the number of calls were between 12 and 25 per day. A few days back, it was 12-13 per day. Maximum calls are related to bed availability
Amid a decline in Covid-19 cases, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to reduce lines and manpower of 24x7 Covid-19 war room as calls have declined from 1,200 to 12 calls per day.
According to officials, from the last four days, the number of calls were between 12 and 25 per day. A few days back, it was 12-13 per day. Maximum calls are related to bed availability.
Dr Manisha Naik, assistant medical officer, PMC, said, “The number of calls has dropped from 1,500 to 12-13 calls per day. So, we have decided to curtail staff. We sent teachers and engineers back to their original department. However, the war room is operational and will continue to attend to calls.”
PMC had set up a 24x7 war room in March-2020 (during the first wave) to allocate beds to Covid patients in PMC/government hospitals. If a patient wants to get admitted to a private hospital, based on data from the Pune division dashboard, the patient is guided to a private hospital based on the availability of the beds.
PMC has given a contract to Indohealth Software Solutions Pvt Ltd to run the war room during the first and second wave. It appointed doctors and teachers (from government schools) and engineers. The manpower was 136. There were 25 lines in operation at the peak. Earlier, the war room received 3,500 to 4,000 calls daily, and the team was able to receive 1,500 to 1,600 calls in a day. Maximum calls were related to bed availability inquiry.
Now, the corporation reduced manpower up to 32 which includes doctors and private agency staff members. The corporation issued an order and sent back all teachers and engineers to their earlier work. At present, PMC is operating 14 lines to handle calls.
HC notice to PMC over bad management of war room
In May this year, the Bombay High Court had slapped a notice to PMC over the bad management of the war room. The high court was hearing a bunch of petitions related to Covid-19 management in the state to consider imposing a strict lockdown in Pune due to the high number of active cases. Thus, the PMC had submitted an affidavit to appraise the court of the improved situation in the city.
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