Pune: District Collector Naval Kishor Ram visited the Sassoon General Hospital on Sunday (August 2) afternoon, to take a review of the hospital beds augmentation work. Ram assured citizens that 175 additional hospital beds will be made available in two days while a total of 325 oxygenated beds are being set up at the government run hospital.
Ram was accompanied by Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Ayush Prasad, Dean of Sassoon Hospital and B J Medical College Dr Murlidhar Tambe, Paediatric Department Head Professor Aarti Kinikar and other officers.
Ram inspected the work being carried out in the hospital premises. Oxygen pipelines, liquid medical oxygen tank, infrastructural repairs, electrical repairs and closed circuit television camera installation work is being carried out in Sassoon hospital. This work is in its last stages and it will be over soon.
Ram instructed the officials to expedite the remaining work. He said by Tuesday (August 4), 175 oxygenated beds will be available for treatment of COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospital. The work of operationalising other oxygenated beds will also be completed on war footing.
Ram said, "We have planned to use 50 per cent of the total hospital beds in the Sassoon hospital for treating COVID-19 patients. The Infosys building, David Sassoon ward, Paediatric ward, Jacob Sassoon ward will be utilised for this purpose. The total cost for this project is Rs.4.2 crore."
Sassoon has a total 600 bed capacity for treating patients. Till now, only 200 beds were utilized for COVID-19 patients. But now it will be increased to 300 beds. Later, the total hospital beds available in Sassoon for COVID-19 patients will be 870.
Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao has said that the state government has given Sassoon hospital adequate financial assistance and henceforth all resources will be consolidated in the fight against COVID-19 for the next four to six weeks minimum.
