The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation is probing allegations against a contractor for raising bills for 10,000 beds when only 1,060 were used at a Covid care centre. (Express file photo by Ashish Kale) Exactly a year after the first Covid-19 death was reported in Pimpri-Chinchwad, official data shows that non-Covid deaths in the city far outnumber Covid-19 deaths. From March 2020 to March 2021, Pimpri-Chinchwad reported a total of around 13,800 deaths. Of these, around 3,000 were Covid-19 deaths.
Civic health officials said the first Covid-19 death was reported at YCM hospital on April 11, 2020, when a 45-year-old man from Sangvi succumbed to the virus. “The man had comorbidities,” officials said.
Hospital beds available in Pune
According to figures available with the PCMC health department, the months of August and September registered the highest number of collective deaths in Pimpri-Chinchwad. While September recorded 1,815 deaths, it was 1,655 in August. “This is because during these months, Covid deaths were also the highest…While August registered 547 deaths due to Covid, September registered 468 Covid deaths,” officials said.
On an average, officials said, 800 total deaths were registered every month in Pimpri in last one year while 250 Covid-19 deaths occurred every month.
YCM hospital and medical college dean Dr Rajendra Wable told The Indian Express, “Among the non-Covid deaths, heart ailment tops the list, followed by brain stroke, kidney disease, paralysis, multi-organ failure and road accidents.”
Dr Wable said though YCM hospital has been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, those who cannot afford costly private hospital treatment can get treatment in Aundh hospital and Sassoon hospital, both run by the government. “Besides they can also approach D Y Patil hospital where treatment charges are low compared to other private hospitals,” he said.
Though YCM hospital has become a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, Dr Wable said, emergency OPD service for non-Covid patients remains open. “We treat 100 to 150 non Covid patients at the emergency OPD every day,” he said.
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