PMC warns Covid centres of action if patients are turned away despite availability of beds

The civic body is now racing against time to set up enough facilities in Pune to house at least 10,000 patients by the end of May.

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The Covid care centres and quarantine centres are needed to keep those suspected patients who have to be isolated, but can’t be in home quarantine. (File)

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has warned those in charge of Covid care centres that they will face serious action if they turn away a patient despite availability of beds.

“It has been observed that some patients are turned away by Covid care centres, claiming there are no beds despite availability. If this continues, the in-charge concerned will face action,” said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad.

The Covid care centres and quarantine centres are needed to keep those suspected patients who have to be isolated, but can’t be in home quarantine. As per government guidelines, every suspected patient in a quarantine centre should have to stay there for at least two days after they undergo a Covid-19 test, and for a minimum 14 days if they test positive for the infection but are asymptomatic.

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“It has been observed that despite written and oral directions, there is no proper implementation of the instructions issued for providing facilities at quarantine and isolation centres,” said Gaikwad.

The civic body is now racing against time to set up enough facilities in Pune to house at least 10,000 patients by the end of May. “It is neccessary to create facilities with 10,000 beds… in the civic jurisdiction by May-end, going by the spread of the pandemic,” said the civic chief.

A total of 30 such centres are being set up in civic hospitals, college hostels and sports complexes.

Ajay Jadhav

Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast. Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste. Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter. Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More

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