Pune: It’s bad coordination that stranded patients, say experts

PUNE: The death of a fifth patient this week, who was unable to find an intensive care on time, points to a serious lack of coordination among government agencies in the region, experts said.
The family of the 76-year-old patient said he died at Sassoon General Hospital after a two-day wait for a ventilator-supported ICU bed at the state-run unit and at two private hospitals in the city.

But reports have indicated that there were beds available at hospitals within the PCMC area when the patient died on Thursday.
On Saturday, again, the dashboard set up by the administration showed Sassoon had zero vacant ICU beds with ventilators (as of 9pm). But PCMC hospitals showed 28 such vacant units.
There are plans to add 120 more ICU beds at Sassoon.
But that “isn’t enough”, said retired bureaucrat Mahesh Zagade, who was PMC commissioner during the 2009 swine flu outbreak. He said addition of beds should be accompanied by enough medical staff and even canteen facilities for those admitted. “Beds do not mean cots; we need staff too. I have seen case jumps from a mere 200 to 1,800. We need to prepare for exponential growth,” Zagade said, while adding that the city should release details on the 80% of beds it was to acquire from private hospitals.
Pradeep Bhargava from the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) said it was troubling to note that that a death had occurred at Sassoon when there were nearly vacant ICU beds in hospitals within PCMC limits. Bhargava said, “The administration should consider these as common resources for the entire city. Regimentation into wards and corporations is good for containment, but not for vital care. Our addresses should not come in the way of treatment. Also, the large resources available with defence establishments in Pune should be brought into the infrastructure pool to save lives.” Activist Vivek Velankar asked why authorities, despite being nearly five months into a pandemic, had still not set up a simple three-digit toll-free number for critical coronavirus information.
“One helpline number is easier to remember. A helpline can get patients to hospitals on time,” he said.
Administration officials have said they are setting up a centralised system to handle patient admissions.