Pune: Jumbo care hubs in a mess, admin terminates CoEP centre agency

PUNE: The administration has terminated the contract of the Lifeline Hospital Management Services, entrusted with the task of operating the 800-bed makeshift Covid-19 hospital on the CoEP grounds, though the agency stated that it was “under pressure” to make the facility operational “without adequate preparations”.

“As per the contract, it was decided that only 25% patients will be admitted in the first of functioning...But due to the pressure from the administration, we were forced to start the centre with inadequate preparations. We had brought this to the notice of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) additional commissioner Rubal Agarwal and expressed our inability to run the centre,” the Lifeline Hospital Management Services replied in a letter to the administration.
When contacted, Agarwal told TOI, “The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), which had entered into the MoU with the agency, categorically told us that the patients could be admitted to the facility at full capacity from the first day. If there were issues, it should have been raised before the steering committee.”
Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao, who also heads the steering committee, said. “The MoU between the administration and Lifeline services clearly stated that if there was any surge in cases, then they had to be ready before the normal prescribed time to take care of the inflow of patients.”
The letter from Lifeline Hospital Management Services director Sujit Patkar, a copy of which is with TOI, further stated as per the conditions, 25% patients were to be admitted to the Covid care centre on the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) grounds in the first phase. “However, on the first day over 200 patients were admitted. Also, all these patients should have been routed through the PMC command centre. But most of them came directly to the centre. This led to the collapse of the system,” it stated.
The letter stated that the oxygen and ventilators provided at the centre were not in a working condition. “All this caused panic among the healthcare staff running the centre. Though we had and still have adequate manpower to run the centre, many of our staffers left the job due to fear,” it added.
Agarwal said admission of patients to the CoEP jumbo Covid facility, which was suspended since September 2, resumed on Thursday.