Pune: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Wednesday staged agitation in the premises of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) headquarters demanding provision of Intensive Care Units (ICU) and ventilator beds to Covid-19 patients in the Pimpri-Chinchwad city.
The agitation took place under the leadership of MNS Corporator Sachin Chikhale. MNS workers Raju Sawale, Vishal Mankari, Bala Danwale, Mayur Chinchwade, Datta Devtarase, Sushant Salvi and Ravi Jadhav participated in the agitation.
The number of Covid-19 patients in Pimpri-Chinchwad city is increasing every day. Also, the daily death toll hovers around 25. More than 150 patients admitted in various civic and private hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 treatment are critically ill. Since most of the hospital beds are occupied, new patients are not getting hospital beds and treatment in the hospitals. Patients from weaker economical backgrounds can't afford Covid-19 treatment at private hospitals and they are not getting vacant hospital beds in government or civic hospitals. The MNS has given a letter about the hardships faced by the common people to the PCMC Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar.
The MNS letter states that poor and needy patients are not getting oxygenated beds and ventilators in hospitals on time. Due to this the mortality rate has increased. So far 685 patients have died due to Covid-19 in the city. The work of setting up Covid Care Center at Auto Cluster and Balanagari should be expedited so that common citizens would get relief from shortage of hospital beds.
PCMC has planned for a jumbo facility at Bal Nagari. This mega facility will have a total of 425 beds capacity of which 300 will be oxygenated beds. The Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial (YCM) hospital has also been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital. However, the patient flow from rural areas and cantonment areas nearby Pimpri-Chinchwad has burdened the healthcare facilities in the city. PCMC has made arrangements for 125 ambulances in order to reduce the search time for ambulances by patients and their relatives.
