Jambusar taluka govt hospital non-operational amid pandemic: Mansukh Vasava to Gujarat Deputy CM

With the growing number of Covid-19 cases in Bharuch district, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Mansukh Vasava in a letter to Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who is also the state Health Minister, has said Jambusar taluka, which has been among the most-affected by the coronavirus disease in the district, does not have a single government facility for Covid-19 treatment.

In the letter, Vasava has alleged the lone government hospital in the taluka has been non-operational during the current pandemic because government doctors were “busy running their private practice” in cities like Vadodara.

“Bharuch district has a number of patients admitted to the government as well as private hospitals for Covid-19 treatment. But despite several directions, the government hospital in Jambusar in the district has not become functional for Covid-19 treatment. The private hospitals in Jambusar are treating Covid-19 patients but the government hospital is yet to admit patients. In this context, it has been learnt that the doctor on duty at the Jambusar Civil Hospital is running a private hospital in Vadodara and has no interest in working at the government hospital. Therefore, you must conduct an immediate inquiry into the matter and take appropriate action to ensure that the Covid-19 treatment begins in the Covid-19 hospital in Jambusar,” the letter states.

A copy of the letter has also been marked to Surat MLA Kishor Kanani.

When contacted, Bharuch Collector M D Modiya said, “The facility is not a civil hospital but a sub-urban health centre that can be functional as a Covid Care Centre. We have already directed the centre to make arrangement for a capacity of about 27 to 29 occupants, and it will be functional this week. There is only one civil hospital in the district in Bharuch town and our dedicated Covid-19 facility is in Ankleshwar at a private hospital that we have taken over.”

According to an integrated Intelligent Referral System (IRS) developed by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) for availability of beds across districts of Central and South Gujarat around Vadodara city, the only Covid-19 hospital in Jambusar, a private-run Al Mahmood Hospital, has a capacity of 90 beds which were all occupied on Tuesday.

Bharuch district has a total of 43 empanelled Covid-19 hospitals with a total of 1,293 beds — 1,133 oxygen-equipped and 175 ICU beds with 97 ventilators. The district so far has recorded a total of 4,531 Covid-19 cases, 429 of which have been reported since April 1.