Pune: Shortage of over 200 ICU beds, 100 ventilators for COVID patients expected soon
Mehab Qureshi
Pune, July 16, 2020: Need to increase the number of hospital beds for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, urgently, stated district collector Naval Kishore Ram. With days passing, the unprecedented surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, especially in Pune, has put the district administration in a fix. Amidst the cases spiking in the city, it is expected to face a shortage of 216 ICU beds, and 109 ventilators by July 20.
The number of non-COVID patients is few, as there is only 30-40 percent occupancy in non-COVID wards. Therefore, it is essential to reallocate these beds to COVID infected patients stated Kishore at the meeting held yesterday.
Ram said, “there are at least 30-35 percent asymptomatic patients, and they should be home quarantined. There is no need for these patients to panic as the doctors can counsel them from home itself.” He added that this crisis can only be resolved by encouraging and motivating the medical community.
“To provide beds and medical services to COVID patients on time, all private hospitals should record the available beds and other necessary information on the dashboard accurately and in time,” said the operations officer of the divisional commissioner’s office, Saurabh Rao. He also informed that five coordinating officers at the level of deputy collectors are being appointed for the management of private hospitals.
The meeting was attended by the new Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Vikram Kumar, Commissioner of Police K Venkatesham, Tribal Research and Training Institute’s commissioner Pavneet Kaur, deputy charity commissioner Navnath Jagtap, district surgeon Dr Ashok Nandapurkar, dean of Sassoon Hospital Muralidhar Tambe, as well as managers, office bearers and doctors of private hospitals in Pune.
