Measures underway to tackle bed shortage in Covid centres; state govt requisitions Armed Forces hospitals

Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar and District Collector Naval Kishore Ram held a Zoom meeting on Thursday with several other hospitals and representatives from the Indian Medical Association to discuss measures to tackle bed shortage at hospitals.

At Sassoon General Hospital, an additional 30 ICU beds with ventilators and 100 beds with oxygen supply will be operational by July 20 while Pune Cantonment Board authorities said a 10-bedded ICU will be functional within a week.

Several doctors from the Armed Forces medical services from Pune are already part of the team treating Covid-19 patients at the 1,000-bed facility in New Delhi. In Pune, the Army Institute of Cardiothoracic Sciences (formerly Military Hospital-cardio-thoracic centre) has treated more than 400 Covid-19 patients.

S Chokalingam, land settlement commissioner, who is also the nodal officer for Covid-19 at Sassoon General Hospital, told The Indian Express that they have treated 1,228 patients so far. Overall, there will be 70 ICU beds and 250 beds with oxygen supply at Sassoon Hospital, he added.

“By the first week of August, we plan to augment the capacity at Sassoon General Hospital and increase the number of ICU beds with ventilators to 120. We are on the right track with procurements in place and getting adequate manpower that is required with high expertise at the ICU,” Chokalingam said.

He said that most patients were referred to Sassoon General Hospital after first visiting private hospitals.

Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant medical officer, PMC, said a 10-bed ICU will be functional at the civic-run Dalvi Hospital, while Amit Kumar, CEO at Pune Cantonment Board, said their 10-bed ICU at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Cantonment General hospital will be operational within a week. “We have issued tenders for medicines, PPE and oxygen cylinders apart from engaging intensivists and nurses,” Kumar said.

IMA explores tie-up with hotels to isolate asymptomatic patients

Dr Sanjay Patil, chairman of the Hospital Board of India, Pune and president, Indian Medical Association, Pune, said the IMA has floated the idea of tying up with hotels so that their rooms can be used as paid facilities for isolation of Covid-19 patients, who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.