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PMC, district health office to procure 50 more ambulances to meet projected rise in Covid cases
The civic body has 54 PMC ambulances and 58 from the collector’s office and so, a total of 112 ambulances are available for Covid-19 services.
The requirement of ambulances and hearses are rising with an influx in the number of Covid-19 cases in the city.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) currently has 112 ambulances and is likely to request 50 more from the divisional commissioner as the need arises.
The district health office is also proposing to buy new ambulances for the rural areas to ensure that the patient reaches the hospital on time thereby saving precious lifesaving hours.
As of July 2, the city has 6,695 active cases out of which 56 are on ventilators and 288 are on ICU beds. As the civic body plans to ramp up testing, the number of positives are also likely to rise and so are the number of critical patients who will need an ambulance. The estimated projection of the number of active cases by July end is likely to cross 19,500.
Currently, the civic body has 54 PMC ambulances and 58 from the collector’s office and so, a total of 112 ambulances are available for Covid-19 services.
The civic body also has six vehicles for Covid-19 cremation and two non-Covid cremation vehicles.
The civic body has provided ambulances for the transfer of dead bodies to Sassoon general hospital which has seen the maximum deaths due to Covid-19.
Two ambulances have been provided to the police department, one emergency response vehicle with oxygen and a first-aid facility is provided to the fire brigade.
The PMC has also pooled in PMPML buses for Covid-19 services. There are 85 four-wheelers and 36 PMPML buses which are put into Covid-19 services.
Shekhar Gaikwad, PMC commissioner said, “We have asked for 50 more ambulances from the divisional commissioner possibly with oxygen supply. We could also use oxygen cylinders in case we get regular ambulances. We have also converted a few of our PMPML mini buses into hearse. There would be no shortage of ambulances in future and we will ensure it. Also with regards to manpower, we have over 9,000 PMPML drivers who are sitting idle and can be used for these extra vehicles.”
As the number of cases keeps rising in rural areas, the district administration is trying to increase the ambulance capacity for rural areas.
Dr Bhagwan Pawar, district health officer said, “We have about 96 ambulances for primary health services which are used for routine services and we are in the process of procuring more ambulances for the rural areas.”
