Pune has been reporting over 2,000 new cases every day, and more beds are needed to accommodate the increasing number of patients. (Representational Image)As private hospitals and jumbo facilities in Pune struggle with a widening gap between number of patients and availability of healthcare staff, the administration has started talking to a host of medical associations in an effort to encourage pulmonologists, intensivists and physicians to work at these facilities, Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao said on Tuesday.
“We have doubled efforts to ramp up the bed strength at Sassoon General Hospital, jumbo hospitals and especially at private hospitals, which have also been assured supply of adequate oxygen… we are also conducting a series of meetings with medical associations to convince their general practitioners to work for private hospitals,” said Rao.
Pune Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said that a meeting was held with the Association of Physicians of India (Pune branch) and Anaesthetists Association on Tuesday.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope, who was in Pune on Sunday and Monday, had reviewed the number of hospital beds, as well as the functioning of private hospitals vis-a-vis government hospitals. Pune has been reporting over 2,000 new cases every day, and more beds are needed to accommodate the increasing number of patients.
According to a district administration official, given the current surge in cases, it was expected that 2,066 oxygenated beds and another 250 ventilated beds would be needed by October 2. “In the last couple of days, we have been able to add 564 oxygenated beds while 30 ventilated beds have been added to the system. Another 81 ICU beds have been added,” he said.
Dr Mukund Penurkar, secretary of API (Pune), told The Indian Express that they were already working as physicians at various hospitals and will request members to work at other facilities as well. “We have around 350-400 members, and will finalise a plan by Wednesday,” said Dr Penurkar.
Dr Rajendra Patil, president of the Indian Society of Anaesthesiologists (Pune branch), said the society has 350 members and at the meeting with administration officials, they had assured that they will send an appeal to their doctors to offer their services at other private hospitals.
Sassoon General Hospital to re-issue advts for recruiting over 200 doctors
“We are re-issuing advertisements for the recruitment of over 200 doctors, including super-specialists,” said S Chokalingam, the land settlement commissioner who has also been coordinating Covid management at Sassoon General Hospital. The hospital didn’t get the desired response to its first advertisement.
Meanwhile, Sassoon General Hospital has been able to ramp up its facility to 546 beds for Covid-19 patients, but faced technical issues in supply of oxygen. While Tope has directed Sassoon health authorities to step up their bed capacity to 850 by September 30, authorities said they had already made a number of beds operational. “At the Infosys building on the campus, 70 beds are fully operational and at the David Sassoon building, 50 beds are fully occupied. The remaining 70 beds will be ready in another four days. The paediatric department at Sassoon General Hospital is being readied for Covid-19 patients to recover… here non-oxygenated beds are being identified as a recuperation area,” said Chokalingam.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
For all the latest Pune News, download Indian Express App.