Mock drills held in Pune to check Covid preparedness, 2,204 beds ready in 123 hospitals
2,204 out of the total 5,805 beds are already functional. As many as 258 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds out of 764 are ready
Mock drills were conducted at 123 hospitals in Pune city on Monday to assess preparedness for treating Covid-19 patients following an advisory by the government.
At these hospitals, which include 10 government and 113 private centres, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials said, 2,204 out of the total 5,805 beds are already functional. As many as 258 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds out of 764 are ready and 228 ventilator beds out of 527 ventilated beds are functional. Also, 987 oxygen beds out of 3,005 beds and 731 isolation beds out of 1,509 are functional, said officials.
“We have 2,763 doctors and 7,221 nurses and our daily testing capacity is 956. There are 848 Ayush doctors and 2,333 paramedical staff with 3.24 lakh Covid-19 testing kits available at these hospitals,” said, Dr Suryakant Devkar, assistant health officer of PMC.
After the spike in Covid-19 cases in India, the ministry of health announced nationwide mock drills on Monday and Tuesday to assess hospital preparedness. Both public and private hospitals are part of the drills.
PMC officials said there is an adequate stock of medicines such as doxycycline, paracetamol, remdesivir, tocilizumab and methylprednisolone, amongst others.
“The mock drill will help us check the operational readiness and help in filling gaps if any to strengthen healthcare facilities in the city. The prime focus of this exercise is the availability of well-equipped Covid-19 hospitals in the city with adequate facilities and healthcare professionals,” said Dr Devkar.
Dr Bhagwan Pawar, health officer of PMC, informed that the number of doctors and healthcare staff at the Covid-19 hospital can be increased. Currently, there are 1,770 doctors and 4,817 nurses in position and orientation. Similarly, 1,793 paramedical staff and 596 AYUSH doctors are oriented, he, informed. However, currently, none of the Covid-19 hospitals, public or private, has a triage area.
Now, only the private Covid-19 hospitals in the city have 258 ICU beds and 228 ventilator beds functional. In government facilities as many as 144 ICU beds are kept ready but are not yet functional. PMC has 68 ambulances ready and 3,101 functional oxygen cylinders and 77 functional oxygen storage tanks, said officials.
Dr Pawar, said, the healthcare facilities in the city have enough facilities and are well prepared to handle any crisis-like situation. “Very few patients require hospitalisation in the current situation,” he said.
Case count
Pune district reported 41 fresh Covid-19 and no deaths on Monday, out of which 18 were reported in Pune city, 12 in Pimpri-Chinchwad, 11 in Pune rural and Cantonment area. The district currently has 756 active Covid cases.
Maharashtra on Monday reported one death (Mumbai circle) and 328 new cases, taking the active Covid-19 cases in the state to 4,667 cases.
