PUNE: Standing committee chairperson Hemant Rasane on Monday proposed steps in the civic body’s 2021-22 budget to improve health infrastructure and announced the Nanaji Deshmukh cancer hospital, intensive care units at five PMC-run hospitals and allocation of Rs146 crore for the proposed medical college and super speciality and urology centre at another health hub.
Rasane said, “The civic body faced a huge challenge due to Covid-19 in the past one year. We also felt the need to further improve health facilities in the city. Accordingly, we included various plans in the budget for the coming fiscal.”
He said there was no dedicated hospital for cancer treatment in the city and five districts in western Maharashtra. “The civic body has sought proposals to set up one such facility. It is likely to comeup on a 10,000 sq mtr area in Warje or Baner. An international agency working in the health sector has extended cooperation to the project,” Rasane said.
A new public health scheme, Aarogya Vardhan Project, has been proposed for the residents by implementing preventive measures. About 10 lakh citizens are expected to benefit from the project to be implemented jointly by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), social groups and citizens.
Rasane said Rs10 crore has been set aside to tackle the outbreak of Covid-19. Two cardiac ambulances will be added to the fleet to ensure timely medical assistance to the critical patients. The administration was readying the infrastructure to tackle over 1,90,00 active Covid-19 cases.
Health activist Abhijit More said the PMC should ensure optimum utilization of the existing infrastructure and the hospital that were closed. “Before announcing b=new scheme, The administration must fill 700 vacant posts in the health department and focus on the primary care network by starting a ‘mohalla’ clinic for every 20,000 population,” he said.