Pune far better placed now than in second wave: Analysis

PUNE: The district is much better placed now in terms of critical Covid parameters, such as patients on oxygen beds and ventilators than during the second wave early last year, an analysis by the district health department has revealed.
District data showed that while 14.1% patients among the total active Covid cases were on oxygen support around April 7, 2021, (peak of second wave), this percentage is just 0.58% now.
As many as 1,361 (1.4% of the total active cases) patients were in the ICUs during the second wave peak of the pandemic in the district, while this number is stands at 150 (0.20% of total active cases) now, the comparative analysis showed.
The data also showed that only 91 patients were currently on ventilator support in Pune district as against 1,792 around April 7 last year.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director, health services, Pune region, told TOI, “During April 7-13 last year, Pune witnessed the highest cases during the second wave. Pune’s maximum requirement of oxygen then was 341 metric tonnes (MT) per day. Now, we are prepared to meet an oxygen requirement of 1,000 MT per day. At present, however, the district’s ocygen requirement is just 80-90 MT per day. Similar is the case with ICU and oxygen beds as well as ventilators, whose availability has gone up significantly since the second wave period, but requirement currently is just 3-4 % of total availability.”
Dr Deshmukh said not only has the infrastructure been scaled up, but the ongoing wave being somewhat milder than the previous surge is also a reason why critical resources are more available now.
Dr Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director of Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital, told TOI, “There are 22 patients in the hospital ICU but only two-three are there because of Covid. The rest have landed up in the ICU due to other illnesses “with Covid” and not because of it. The main reason behind this trend is that the variant that has triggered the current surge is relatively milder, attaching to the bronchi and not to the lung alveoli.”