Former Pune civic chief’s suggestion: 90% focus on Covid preventive measures, 10% on treatment

Pointing out that the current second wave of coronavirus infections in Pune city is worse than the first wave seen last year, former bureaucrat Mahesh Zagade on Thursday once again urged the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to implement a programme in which 90 per cent focus is on preventive measures to contain the spread of the infection and 10 per cent on treatment.

In a communication to Murlidhar Mohol, Zagade, a former chief of PMC, said a delegation had met the Mayor and senior civic officers to discuss containing the spread of Covid-19 in the city. “Local residents are thankful to the PMC for its efforts towards containing Covid-19 but the viral infection is once again spreading fast and the situation is now getting serious,” he said.

Zagade said, “The municipal chief was transferred with immediate effect last year on the pretext that the civic administration was not able to check the spread of the viral infection in the city. However, the situation is more serious now as active cases are higher than ever”

In a meeting held last year, a lot of measures were decided and if those were implemented, then the situation would have been different now, he said. “It is my request once again that the civic administration should have 90 per cent focus on preventive steps and 10 per cent on treatment. This would definitely improve the situation. It can be achieved with existing staff and support of public without additional costs to the civic body,” he said.

Zagade said there should be separate civic administrative units for each of the 164 electoral wards in the city to cover the entire population of 42 lakh, with approximately 26,000 population in each ward. Of the 20,000-strong civic staff, PMC should depute 15,000 for the ward units to focus on containing the viral spread in their respective areas.

Through this unit, the civic administration can strictly implement Covid-appropriate behaviour among local residents and no person would dare to come out of their house without wearing a mask, said Zagade.

Covid-19 patients should be shifted to hospitals in civic ambulances, and those who visit local clinics for treatment of cold, cough and fever symptoms should be tracked, said the former PMC chief, adding that proper supply of essential commodities in containment zones should be ensured. “The civic administration should implement the `Corona-free’ zone programme with public participation instead of a strategy to declare containment zones,” said Zagade.

Zagade also sought recruitment of staff in vacant posts of the civic health department to efficiently handle the pandemic.

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