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PMC starts work on 10,000-bed temporary hospital at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi
The facilities provided at the hospital can be availed by both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, says Shekhar Gaikwad, municipal commissioner
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will open a 10,000-bed temporary hospital at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi amid the rise in the spread of Sars-Cov-2 virus which causes the Covid-19 (coronavirus) infection. “We have already started the ground work for the same,” said Shekhar Gaikwad, municipal commissioner on Saturday.
Gaikwad said, “We are preparing for the worse and have decided to open a temporary hospital at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi. The capacity of the hospital will be 10,000 beds.”
“The facilities provided at the hospital can be availed by both Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations. Sugar commissioner Saurabh Rao and additional municipal commissioner Shantanu Goyal are incharge of getting the temporary hospital ready,” said Gaikwad.
Gaikwad said, “The existing hospitals are currently working at full capacity. So looking at the trend of rising Covid-19 cases we have decided it will be easy to quarantine patients at Balewadi sports complex as the entire stadium is fenced.”
“PMC engineers have already designed the map of the hospital at the sports complex and completed the site visit,” said Gaikwad.
He said, “We are planning to purchase low-cost furniture, mainly beds for this temporary hospital. We will be procuring steel beds which will cost less than Rs1,000 and the decision on the same will be taken soon.”
“We also plan to erect portable oxygen ventilators and the medical teams are already guiding the engineering teams in the planning process,” said Gaikwad.
Commissioner said, “PMC has already appointed the staff for building the temporary hospital at Balewadi. We are planning to hire staff from other government departments to manage the hospital. We have also requested the state and central government departments to provide us with the required staff to manage the hospital.”
Recently, when Pune district guardian Minister Ajit Pawar had visited the city to take an overview of the Covid-19 situation and he had instructed the divisional commissioner and PMC commissioner that if necessary, a temporary hospital can be created at Balewadi.
