PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will set up a six-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Naidu Hospital, Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said on Thursday. 

“The ICU will be ready within two days,” he added. The hospital does not have an ICU as of now. 

“We have sanctioned Rs 44 lakh for the ICU. Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) will provide staff and equipment to set it up. The civic body has deputed 143 officials from different departments with specialised medical officers to tackle the coronavirus situation in Pune. The PMC has reserved 250 beds in private as well as PMC-run hospitals to quarantine the suspects,” Mohol said. 

“The civic body will also begin an awareness campaign by distributing pamphlets, putting up banners and hoardings and on social media platforms,” he added.

The mayor also appealed to the citizens not to panic and take precautionary measures. 

Mohol had called a meeting of PMC officials to review the preparedness. Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad, Additional Municipal Commissioner Rubal Agrawal, Shantanu Goyal, Chief Medical Officer Dr Ramchandra Hankare, Leader of House Dheeraj Ghate, Standing Committee Chairman Hemant Rasane and other officials were present during the meeting. 

“We have cancelled public gatherings. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) lottery function and the weekly public meeting will also not be held. The civic body and the district administration is searching for places to quarantine 500 people in the city area so that we can quarantine foreign-return people for one to three days as a precautionary measure,” Gaikwad said. 

Hankare said that the PMC has checked samples of 650 households in the 3-km radius of COVID-19 positive patients’ homes. “All samples were negative,” he added.

‘USE HANDKERCHIEF INSTEAD OF MASKS’
On the issue of the prices of masks shooting up, Municipal Commissioner Gaikwad appealed to citizens not to use masks. “Instead of that, use a handkerchief. It is washable and we can use it repeatedly and is safe as compared to use-and-throw mask. The masks will increase biomedical waste and create an unnecessary panic situation in the market,” he said.