Maharashtra at 1 million: Covid-19 spreads in rural areas | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Maharashtra at 1 million: Covid-19 spreads in rural areas

ByRupsa Chakraborty, Mumbai
Sep 12, 2020 01:03 AM IST

Although Mumbai, Thane and Pune still remain the epicentre of the pandemic, Covid-19 infection is fast spreading in rural districts of Maharashtra, with districts once tagged as green zones owing to minimal cases, recording the highest growth rate in the past 10 days. Many districts have acute shortage of beds in intensive care units (ICU) and essentials, including drugs and oxygen.

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While Mumbai, Thane, and Pune constitute almost 54% of total Covid-19 cases in the state, the growth rate has come under control. Between September 1 and 10, Pune has recorded 22.3% growth, followed by Mumbai with 19.1% and Thane 12.6%.

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But districts like Bhandara, 908km away from Mumbai, recorded a 105.2% growth in the past 10 days, the highest in the state. On September 1, 1,173 Covid-19 cases were reported, which rose to 2,408 on September 10. Wardha, which was a green zone in April, has recorded a 96.7% rise, as the number of patients rose to 2,019 from 1,026 in the same period. Gondia registered 1,569 cases on the first day of September, which increased to 2,769 within 10 days. This counts as 76.4% rise in cases. In Chandrapur, cases surged to 4,697 from 2,639 (78.3%). Sindhudurg, which was again a green zone district, has gained the fifth top slot by registering 64.9% growth rate. The cases rose to 2,157 from 1,308 in 10 days.

“Pandemic spreads like waves of the earthquake. It started with Mumbai and Pune, but has now spread to all districts. With the gradual unlocking of the lockdown, movement of people in the interiors have increased and so this was expected,” said Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer.

Many hospitals in these regions are facing acute shortage of medical staff and essential drugs.

Dr Ajay Dawale, district health officer, Wardha, said, “We have enough beds with oxygen facilities, but we don’t have an adequate number of ICU beds. We are in talks with private hospitals to increase ICU and ventilator beds at the earliest. We have already tied up with 27 private hospitals. We need more medical staffers to treat patients in government hospitals.”

Human right activists have complained there is an acute shortage of drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, which are an integral part of Covid-19 treatment. “It took me two days to arrange for a unit of Tocilizumab for a 54-year-old patient admitted at a private hospital. The government is just focussing on Pune and Mumbai. The sudden rise in cases in Bhandara has taken the government by surprise. We don’t have basic medical amenities like oxygen,” said Surendra Patil, part of the NGO, Jan Vidhan in Bhandara.

Dr Milind Motghare, district health officer, said, “Initially, there were some shortages, but now we have enough stock.”

To address the oxygen crisis, especially in far-off rural parts of the state, the health department has started control rooms in all districts. However, as cases are increasing in these areas, they often face problems in transporting oxygen when sudden need arises.

“On Friday, we held a meeting with all district medical officers. We have already instructed them to procure dura oxygen cylinders on priority. After receiving the list of requirements from 16 districts, we have handed over the jumbo cylinders to them,” said Dr Archana Patil, director of health, Maharashtra. “We have also held meetings with the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for the procurement process.”

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