E-Paper
Nine months of Covid: Post Covid care emerging challenge for Pune
After the city reported its first case on March 9, the virus progressed rapidly with Pune emerging as one of the hotspots of the infection. Later, the Covid-19 infection slowed down in Pune. Till July 9, Pune had seen a total of 33,394 cases and 986 deaths. By October, the cases went up to 3,08,434 and death toll touched 6,073
The state health department along with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and private doctors have come a long way since the first positive case of coronavirus (Covid-19) infection had been reported in Maharashtra nine months ago. However, even with the vaccines showing promises of development, the post-Covid care still is an emerging challenge for the authorities.
After the city reported its first case on March 9, the virus progressed rapidly with Pune emerging as one of the hotspots of the infection. Later, the Covid-19 infection slowed down in Pune. Till July 9, Pune had seen a total of 33,394 cases and 986 deaths. By October, the cases went up to 3,08,434 and death toll touched 6,073.
Till Tuesday (December 9), Pune district has reported 3,59,729 total positive cases with 7,588 deaths while the state reported 47,902 fatalities due to the virus.
Speaking about the journey of the pandemic so far, Dr Sanjeev Wavare, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) assistant health chief, said that the post-Covid care in cases can be handled at medical clinics.
“There is very less awareness among patients about post Covid care. We have acted very promptly while managing cases of Covid-19. We established Covid care centres and got ventilators for patients who need intensive care units (ICU). We have done all of this in the past nine months and so, today we see that there are regular flow of patients at hospitals and proper management of Covid patients,” said Dr Wavare.
He further added that despite the infrastructure, the need for skilled manpower was another aspect which was challenging for the health department.
“We were able to manage the infrastructure and Covid care centres for patients. However, skilled manpower was a major challenge. And for the future, having human resources that can manage important instruments like ventilators are in need,” said Dr Wavare.
Sharing similar views, Dr Sudhir Patsute, superintendent at PMC-run Naidu Infectious Diseases Hospital, said that post Covid care for patients is important.
“However, social distancing and wearing masks should not be neglected by the general public. There are enough private clinics which can help in providing post Covid care to patients. However, good habits like washing hands frequently should be followed by everyone,” said Dr Patsute.
Dr Avinash Bhondwe, president, Maharashtra Indian Medical Association (IMA), said that it is very important that patients are aware about post Covid care and also the government makes treatment easier for them.
“We have seen that many patients post Covid have fatigue and various other conditions that deters their health. In such cases, the patient should have a dedicated clinic to visit that tackles all similar cases. However, so far from the government’s end, there has been no concrete steps. This has to change in the near future soon otherwise we might see more challenging days for Covid patients,” said Bhondwe.
He further emphasised that practices like wearing masks, social distancing and hand washing should be continued to keep the numbers low.
Pune Covid-19 cases
*Month--Positive-- active-- death -- Recovered
*March 9--5--5--0--0
*April 9--209---155--24--30
*May 9--2537-910--141-1486
*June 9--9739---9040-437--259
*July 9--33394--17229--986--15179
*August 9--114703--40278--2771--71654
*September 9--218502--69456--4634--144412
*October 9--308434--57926--6073--244434
*November 9--339450--16003--7086--315428
*December 9--359729--15616--7588--336490
*Source: state health department
