It is the duty of all private medical practitioners to serve the public during the pandemic, he said, adding that the PMC had held discussions with various associations of private medical practitioners to understand their issues and find a solution. (Representational)
To get more private medical practitioners to join the anti-Covid fight, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday decided to incur the medical expenditure of private medical staff involved in treating Covid-19 patients and provide them term insurance of Rs 50 lakh.
“It has been noticed that private medical practitioners at their clinics have stopped providing service…This has put pressure on the existing health infrastructure being utilised for treating patients,” said Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar.
It is the duty of all private medical practitioners to serve the public during the pandemic, he said, adding that the PMC had held discussions with various associations of private medical practitioners to understand their issues and find a solution.
“The PMC has decided to incur the treatment expenditure of private medical practitioners if they are infected while treating Covid-19 patients admitted to the hospital. The civic body will also provide them term insurance of Rs 50 lakh along the lines provided to Covid warriors,” said Hemant Rasane, chairperson of the PMC standing committee after the civic panel approved the administration’s proposal on Tuesday.
He said the PMC will also provide necessary protective equipment to private medical practitioners at their respective clinics. “The civic administration has allowed private medical practitioners to treat asymptomatic or mild-symptom Covid-19 patients in home quarantine,” Rasane said, adding that this will help reduce pressure on the civic health infrastructure.
The PMC also decided to implement the Critical Patient Management system to digitally track the health of critical patients at Covid hospitals in the city. Indohealth Software Solutions Pvt Ltd has been given the responsibility of implementing the system on real-time information for one year.
“Details like symptoms and line of treatment would be keyed into the software and will help in immediate and effective treatment of patients, helping reduce case fatality rate,” said Kumar.
The PMC also decided to sign an agreement with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Cantonment General Hospital to avail its facility of 50 isolation beds with oxygen and 10 ICU beds with ventilators for patients referred by the civic administration. The PMC will pay the hospital Rs 50 lakh per month for six months.