The Pune, Khadki and Dehu road Cantonment areas, combined, have reported 77 Covid-19 positive cases and three deaths in the last 30 days.
The worst-affected of the three is the Pune Cantonment board (PCB), which has reported 54 positive cases of the 77 in all the Cantonment areas.
The Khadki Cantonment board has reported 21 cases, whereas the Dehu road Cantonment board has reported 2 cases.
The Cantonment boards fall under the ministry of defence and are located in some of the most congested parts of the city.
The PCB borders Bhavani peth, that has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the city.
Amit Kumar, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pune Cantonment board (PCB) said, most of the cases which have been reported in PCB are from New Modikhana and areas adjacent to Bhavani peth, which is a red zone.
“Initially, there were people entering from Bhavani peth which might have caused the infection to spread. We have now sealed the area to stop any movement of people from Bhavani peth inside PCB,” Kumar said.
According to Kumar, the PCB administration swung into action after the first case was identified on April 7, of senior citizen who tested Covid-19 positive.
{{/usCountry}}According to Kumar, the PCB administration swung into action after the first case was identified on April 7, of senior citizen who tested Covid-19 positive.
{{/usCountry}}Each Cantonment area has one hospital, however these hospitals do not have ventilators or ICU facilities, which is why patients are required to be shifted to other hospitals, including the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial and the Aundh district hospital.
The PCB aims to begin a 10-bed ICU facility in its 100-bedded Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cantonment General Hospital.
“We have already issued a tender and in the next 10 days our ICU facility should be ready. We do not have any shortage of experts or infrastructure; we will ensure that the spread of the virus is contained. We have not referred a single patient as of yet to our hospital but we need to be prepared for any eventuality,” Kumar said.
Despite various schemes for the treatment of defence personnel, some private and government hospitals are refusing admission due to overflow of Covid-19 wards.
According to Dr Ranjeet Bhosale, resident medical officer at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Cantonment General Hospital, without ventilators or ICU facilities the patients had to be referred to private hospitals and even government hospitals including Sassoon.
“However, our patients who needed intensive care were refused admission at private hospitals and Sassoon citing overflowing Covid-19 wards in hospitals,” Bhosale said.
Bhosale further added that most of the cases reported were from a single source, the person’s family, neighbours and others were infected following a false negative after which the patient was discharged from a government hospital.
“We also faced a lot of resistance from people especially in slum areas post the tablighi report. People hid their travel history and any flu like symptoms,” Bhosale said.
The Cantonment board had to take police help to ensure that the lockdown is strictly implemented in slums especially where congestion is a huge issue with multiple people living in the same house.
“Areas like Sayyedwada, Kasai Mohalla and Darga vasahat are densely populated,” Bhosale said.