By Thursday evening, there were 2,200 active cases in the city of which 500 are in home isolation. [Representational]
The number of positive Covid-19 cases identified in Pimpri-Chinchwad every day has been less than 200 for the past six days. The cumulative positivity rate in the city has now come down to 10.5 per cent from a high of 22 per cent recorded in the first fortnight of September.
Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) officials said testing has also come down in the industrial city. “We used to conduct 4,000 tests every day until last month, but now we conduct 2,200 tests every day. However, we are continuing contact tracing of 14 people,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Santosh Patil.
The vacant bed space, however, has risen to 65 per cent. In all, Pimpri-Chinchwad has 5,900 beds. “Vacant bed space in Covid hospitals in the industrial city has gone up by 65 per cent. As of now, 35 per cent beds including ventilator beds are occupied. But even this situation keeps changing every hour,” Patil added.
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By Thursday evening, there were 2,200 active cases in the city of which 500 are in home isolation.
In civic-run hospitals like YCM Hospital, which has a capacity of 600 beds, there were only 187 patients, Patil said. “Of these, 100 are positive cases and the rest suspected cases,” he said.
The Auto Cluster facility, which has a capacity of 200 beds, has only 40 patients. “The situation in the 800-bed jumbo hospital is no different as it has fewer than 200 patients,” he said.
The demand for treatment of non-Covid patients, especially those suffering from heart disease, paralysis and kidney ailments is rising, but the PCMC administration said it is too early to open up YCM Hospital for non-Covid patients. “…we are treading cautiously. In view of the experience of other cities where positive cases first dropped and then suddenly shot up, we are still monitoring the situation,” said Patil.
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The civic administration believes that until Dussehra and Diwali end, it will not be appropriate to take any decision regarding opening up of YCM hospital for non-Covid patients. “The festive season will be key to the decision. Only when the two festivals are over will we know what to do. If positive cases do not rise then, we will be in a position to open YCM Hospital for non-Covid patients,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar.
The PCMC has signed an agreement with the neighbouring Dr D Y Patil Hospital, which is treating patients at rates charged by YCM Hospital, Patil said. “So as of now, treatment of non-Covid patients is not a major concern as they are getting treatment at affordable rates,” he said.
Meanwhile, at least 37 medical staff have been sacked from the Nehrunagar jumbo hospital. Hardikar said he had received complaints regarding non-payment of salaries and has ordered an investigation in the matter and sought a report.
PCMC house leader Namdeo Dhake said, “The jumbo hospital is in direct control of PMRDA and the state government. But if the employees are suffering, the PCMC will do its bit for them.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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