PUNE: The civic body on Monday restarted the jumbo hospital facility on the College of Engineering, Pune, grounds where 500 beds would be made available by Friday for the Covid-19 treatment.
The facility, which was closed in January, will help the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) meet the increased demand for beds, including those supported by oxygen. As on Monday, 572 beds reserved for Covid-19 were available in various hospitals in areas under the PMC’s jurisdiction. These beds included those with oxygen and ventilator support. The jumbo facility has a capacity of 800 beds.
“There is no shortage of beds for Covid treatment. We have opened the CoEP facility as a back-up arrangement,” said Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol, who visited the jumbo facility for a review.
“The PMC has planned to start the facility in phases. The first phase will have 250 beds by Tuesday,” said Rajendra Muthe, a senior PMC official.
The PMC has carried out a structural audit of the facility to ensure its resumption. An official said the PMC’s standing committee has approved Rs7.5 crore for reopening the facility. The funds would be used for infrastructure and manpower management.
The jumbo facility on the CoEP grounds was closed on January 15. An overall decline in the positive cases in December 2020 and January 2021 had reduced the number of patients at the facility. The structure was, however, kept as it was as “a backup arrangement” to tide over any surge in Covid-19 cases,
“The PMC had decided to close the facility on a temporary basis. The aim was to reduce the expenses for infrastructure and manpower to run the facility,” a senior official of the civic body said.
The daily Covid-19 cases dropped to 4,321 in the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) on Monday, though its test count continued to stay above 21,000. On Sunday, as many as 5,408 people had tested Covid positive in the region.
The PMC had also set up another jumbo Covid hospital in Baner with corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. This facility has around 350 beds.
“This is a concrete structure and will not be started immediately. It can be made operational in a couple of days if the demand for hospitalization of patients increases. The manpower and other facilities for the centre are in place," the official said.
The official added that a committee has been set up to dump material present at the jumbo hospitals. The committee will distribute medical equipment and other items among hospitals run by the civic body and the district administration once the jumbo facilities are completely closed.
Last week, Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Rajesh Patil had said they were also exploring the option to reactivate the jumbo facility soon.