This is an archive article published on July 1, 2020
Pimpri-Chinchwad’s mortality rate lower than that of Pune, state and nation
Since April, the mortality rate has hovered between 1.4 per cent and 1.8 per cent, much below the state's average mortality rate of 4.72 per cent and the national average of 3.13 per cent.
The lower mortality rate has been attributed to increased contact tracing and early treatment of infected patients (Representational)
As predicted by the civic administration, the number of Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad crossed 3,000 on Tuesday, to reach 3,029. Even though positive cases have risen sharply, the mortality rate has not crossed the 2 per cent-mark in the last three months.
Since April, the mortality rate has hovered between 1.4 per cent and 1.8 per cent, much below the state’s average mortality rate of 4.72 per cent and the national average of 3.13 per cent. It is also lower than neighbouring Pune city’s mortality rate of 3.93 per cent.
Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar attributed the lower mortality rate to increased contact tracing and early treatment of infected patients. “This has helped in reaching out to patients and ensuring that they get early treatment. In turn, this has led to lower mortality rate in Pimpri-Chinchwad compared to Pune city or other cities in the state. Our mortality rate is also much below the state’s average mortality rate,” he said.
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Pimpri-Chinchwad has so far seen 77 Covid-19 patients succumb to the infection. Of these, 47 were from Pimpri-Chinchwad and the remaining 30 were either from PMC, rural areas of the district, Khadki Cantonment Board or Pune Cantonment Board areas.
“Of the 45 coronavirus patients from Pimpri-Chinchwad who died, only one succumbed within 24 hours of admission. But among those from outside PCMC limits, quite a few died within 24 hours of admission. This means, in Pimpri-Chinchwad area we have been able to reach out to patients and get them admitted and treated on time. This could be one of the primary reasons behind the lower mortality rates, besides the efforts of our medical team in saving the lives of the patients,” said Hardikar.
Till May 24, Pimpri-Chinchwad had seen 274 cases. But in the last one month, as lockdown curbs were relaxed, the number of cases has increased. As many as 25 civic officers, employees, two corporators and one MLA have tested positive for the infection.
“From Monday, we have started immediate home isolation of patients with mild symptoms or those who are asymptomatic… this will hugely reduce the burden on our resources…,” said the PCMC chief.
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Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge and his wife, who were found to be positive for Covid-19, have been admitted to a private hospital in Chinchwad. In a social media post, Landge said, “Yes, it is true that I have tested positive for coronavirus…we should learn to live with coronavirus…I am undergoing treatment at a private hospital”.
BJP leaders said Landge was with former chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis when the latter had visited YCM Hospital last week. The throat swab samples of 128 people who had come in contact with Landge have been collected by the civic health department.
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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The lower mortality rate has been attributed to increased contact tracing and early treatment of infected patients (Representational)
