Ventilator bed shortage: Experts say requirement too high than availability in Pune

Pune: The non-availability of the ICU beds in Pune continued on Monday

Pune: The non-availability of the ICU beds in Pune continued on Monday. The Covid dashboard on bed availability for Pune division revealed that no ventilator beds were available in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits on Monday.

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The district administration claimed that 288 beds of all categories were made available Monday, but almost all the beds were occupied immediately. PMC officials said that 250-300 beds from all the categories would be added to the dashboard by Monday night.

At the end of the day, the dashboard showed 439 beds from all the categories were added.

“We are trying our level best to increase beds. We added 288 beds of all categories put together and the beds vanished almost immediately,” said Saurabh Rao, divisional commissioner.

Manisha Naik, PMC’s assistant medical officer, said, “We have spoken to 23 hospitals on Monday. Currently we are registering the new beds on the dashboard and 250-300 beds from all the categories will be available. Amongst those almost 10-15 will be ICU beds.”

PMC has asked private hospitals to reserve 80 per cent of beds for Covid patients, but in the light of the increasing caseload the number of beds is insufficient.

Experts pointed out that the ICU beds need special arrangements and trained staff and it is not something which can be increased as per requirement.

“We are getting continuous calls from patients and mostly for ICU beds. Once a patient is put on a ventilator, in my observation, s/he requires at least a week to recover. So, if already all the beds are full, how can new patients be admitted? Currently we are making Covid patients sign a consent form before getting admitted that they may not get ICU beds if their condition deteriorates. There is a difference between an oxygen bed and an ICU bed. The latter cannot be increased overnight,” said Dr Sanjay Lalwani, medical director at Bharati Vidyapeeth medical college, hospital and research centre.

“Breaking the chain and keeping ourselves and our families safe is the only key. Each and every citizen should do that,” said Rao.