Pune: Jumbo Hospital In Utter Chaos With Shortage Of Beds And Ventilators

Mehab Qureshi

Pune, September 4, 2020: The newly inaugurated Jumbo COVID Hospital on the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground in Shivajinagar was supposed to have 200 ventilators, as announced by the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on August 23. However, the Lifeline agency’s work order revealed that the government ordered only 60 ventilators.

Pawar kept stating that 200 ventilators would be ordered, but the reality asserts that 140 ‘High dependency units’ (HDU) have been ordered, which means that the patients in these 140 beds will be supplied with oxygen beds and not a ventilator. Thus, only 60 Intensive Care ventilators and 140 HDU have been placed.

All patients hoping to get a ventilator are trying to be admitted to the Jumbo facility, but to their surprise, ventilator unavailability has taken many lives. Some ventilators will be shifted from Sassoon Hospital to the Jumbo COVID hospital.

Meanwhile, patients have been complaining that they do not get meals on time.”We are working according to the tender order issued. We have 60 ventilators and 140 HDU. We are working on increasing the workforce”, said Sujit Patkar, director of Lifeline Hospital Service.

The work order stated that a bed would cost Rs 3843 per day, while the oxygen beds will be Rs 1404 per day. However, the agency also disclosed that it has a workforce shortage at the Jumbo facility.

There are 70 doctors in total, and 23 doctors are put in one shift. Ten specialist doctors are appointed for three consecutive shifts, and the management seems to have only 70 nurses, 150 ward boys, and nine bouncers.