Need Some Course Correction To Tackle Possible Third Wave Of Coronavirus: Pune Municipal Commissioner

Pune, 27th May 2021: Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar stated that the positivity ratio in Pune City is now at 6-7% and the recovery rate is around 96% while the availability of hospital beds has improved with less than 10,000 active patients. He added that “we will need to make some course correction to tackle the possible third wave of Coronavirus.”

In a meeting with the PMC officials and Pune Platform for Covid-19 Response (PPCR), the Municipal commissioner talked about the steps taken to accelerate the vaccination drive for Pune City.

The meeting was organised for Tuesday. Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, PMC Standing Committee chairman Hemant Rasne, Leader of the House Ganesh Bidkar, Additional Commissioner Rubal Agarwal, were also present.

PMC Commissioner Kumar advised increasing the number of ICU beds and setting up oxygen generating plants at all major private hospitals. He added that PMC has already operationalised four oxygen generating plants at PMC Hospitals and eight more are in the offing.

“The third wave may hit children but also a few other age groups – so all of us need to be prepared for it. On its part, PMC has reserved its hospitals in Yerwada and Hadapsar for treating children. We would need additional ventilators to tackle the third wave (of paediatric or other variety). There is a need to spruce up the dashboard to reflect the real-time availability of beds across hospitals. It should be the best in the country”, he added.

On the vaccination front, Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol said, “We have approached the Central Government to give permission to PMC to directly source at least 25 lakh doses from Serum Institute of India (SII) which is producing Covishield in Pune, to accelerate the vaccination drive since the number of infections in Pune City have been very high over the past few months. Currently, the system is not able to allocate enough vaccines for Pune City. At present, Central / State Government and Hospitals are allowed to source vaccines from the manufacturers. A special case is being represented for Pune. Serum Institute has also approached the Central Government to grant permission to allocate doses for Pune City directly. As far as the global tender for procuring vaccines is concerned, PMC would like to study the outcome of the tender process of Mumbai Municipal Corporation and then take the next steps.”

MCCIA president Sudhir Mehta, who is the Lead Coordinator-Pune Platform for Covid-19 Response (PPCR), suggested that a tie-up between Pune Municipal Corporation’s and Private Hospitals can overcome the problem of availability of vaccines to some extent. If the hospitals source increased quantities from the manufacturer and make a portion of their allocation available to PMC hospitals to administer the vaccines to the poorer sections of the society, this will address the issue of vaccine procurement.

PMC Standing Committee chairman Rasne stated that “we are evaluating this option and exploring the possibility of using the funds available under the Scheme for Urban Poor.”

Vidya Yeravdekar, Principal Director, Symbiosis Society, stated that the appointments on the Cowin app get filled pretty fast and the sections which are not technologically savvy would get left out of the drive at private hospitals. The Walk-Ins and unregistered people face enormous challenges in the present system. She also pointed out that there is no certainty of availability of vaccines in the next level of procurement to administer the vaccines to many more who need it for the first dose and also the ones who need the second dose.

PMC Commissioner Kumar stated that the vaccine manufacturing capacity is being increased substantially and this problem would be partly addressed once vaccine availability improves. He also added that Workplace Vaccination is also allowed with a tie-up with a hospital that is registered as a Vaccination Centre.

Ruchi Mathur, CEO of Pune City Connect, highlighted the concerns of technology access to the low-income category. She wondered what the thought process was to get them access to the vaccines.

The municipal commissioner informed that presently 63-64 Government Vaccination Centres within PMC limits are administering the vaccines. Efforts are being made to rope in NGOs and other organisations to help the poorer sections of society get vaccinated.

He however said that the Online Registration System on Cowin Portal is mandatory to curb misuse and favouritism.

PMC Additional Commissioner Rubal Agarwal stated that hospitals can administer vaccines at a place other than hospitals with adherence to guidelines and infrastructure facilities as mandated. It has to be near the hospital site.

A suggestion was presented on behalf of Bharati Hospitals to make available Immunoglobin – an essential medicine to treat children in certain categories of infections. Presently it is very costly and not easily available. Agarwal stated that PMC will look into the issue and try to find a solution.

Mehta stated that the pressure on Pune’s medical infrastructure is likely to continue over the next few months because the cases in the rural areas are still rising even though the caseload in Pune City has significantly reduced.

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