Pune Municipal Corporation to soon start another 200-bed dedicated Covid hospital in Baner

Mohol said the new facility will come up on Survey number 33 in Baner within a month, and that it will be set up through funding from the Mayor’s fund and CSR initiative.

In August last year, the PMC started the first dedicated Covid hospital at a vacant civic building in Baner with a capacity of 314 beds, including 270 oxygen and 44 ICU beds.

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The capacity of the hospital has now been increased to 334 beds with 280 oxygen beds, 24 ICU beds without ventilator and 30 ICU beds with ventilator. It was set up with the help of a CSR initiative of private companies that helped with the medical infrastructure for the hospital while it is being run by a private agency.

The hospital has been functioning continuously since its inauguration, even when there was a decline in cases. The PMC had preferred to treat patients at the Baner facility by moving patients from the jumbo hospital and other civic hospitals when the number of patients dropped.

The PMC has struggled with bed management for Covid-19 patients in the city and is working to increase the capacity at government as well as private hospitals. It has asked some private hospitals to treat only Covid-19 patients, considering the increase in the caseload since February. Also, the remaining private hospitals have been asked to provide 80 per cent of their operational beds for Covid patients.

The PMC had to restart the jumbo hospital at College of Engineering Pune, where admissions were stopped in January. The contract for running the hospital was extended by three months, and, at present, is running with the largest capacity of 700 beds. The PMC has also taken over the ESI hospital.

The civic body has also urged the state government to increase the availability of beds at Sassoon General Hospital for Covid-19 treatment, while ensuring that critical patients do not suffer due to a shortage of beds