COVID-19 Pune: Critically ill patients denied admittance at Jumbo Hospital

Pune: Officials at the newly inaugurated Jumbo Hospital (which is designed for critically ill COVID-19 patients) rejected patients who needed oxygen on Sunday.

Although these patients needed oxygen, they were denied admission simply because they were tested for antigen instead of RTPCR. A jumbo hospital with 200 ventilator beds and 600 oxygen beds has been set up on the grounds of the College of Engineering at Shivajinagar for critically ill patients with low oxygen levels.

The administration had announced that patients in need of oxygen in rural areas, including the city, would be admitted there. The hospital is run by Lifeline. However, a doctor from Sinhagad Road Regional Office informed that even critically ill patients from PMC are not being taken in here.

Three patients from Sinhagad Road tested positive for antigen and were admitted to a COVID centre. While on Sunday morning, the oxygen level of three patients was less than 90 to 86. One patient had a fever. When the oxygen level in the body of a corona patient is less than 90, they need oxygenation. The administration sent all the three patients to Jumbo Hospital for admission, however, the administration refused to admit them, citing antigen testing. The Jumbo administration could not be reached for comment.

Speaking to Sakal Times, on condition of anonymity, a doctor based at the Sinhagad Road regional office said, "The serious patients sent by the PMC to Jumbo Hospital are not being admitted as they are antigen tested. The hospital agency is refusing to treat these patients. So, what is the use of this hospital?"