Pune: Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kothrud Chandrakant Patil has said that the jumbo hospital facilities being set-up in Pune district will remain under-utilised as the number of Covid-19 cases have stabilised and patients are opting for home quarantine.
Patil made this statement after his recent meeting with Vikram Kumar, the Municipal Commissioner of Pune city. He urged Kumar to reassess the need to spend Rs 300 crore on the jumbo hospital facilities. Justifying his demand, Patil also cited the example of Mumbai city where the jumbo facilities are underutilised as of now.
Two jumbo hospital facilities – one at the College of Engineering Pune ground and another at Annasaheb Magar Stadium in Pimpri-Chinchwad – are being constructed by the district and civic administration. The work on these facilities began on August 3 and is expected to finish by August 19. Each jumbo facility will need Rs 70 to 80 crore for its construction and further operations for six months.
The COEP jumbo facility will have 600 beds including oxygenated and ICU beds, while the Magar Jumbo hospital will have 200 oxygenated beds and 60 Intensive Care Units (ICU) beds. The jumbo hospitals will be state-of-the-art structures with all facilities including oxygen tanks filling system, accommodation, catering etc. Two agencies are working on these projects. They have earlier worked with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). About 280 personnel including ward boys to super-specialists will be needed to operationalize the 800 beds hospitals.
The Pune Municipal Corporation, in which the BJP is in power, will have to bear 25 per cent cost for these three jumbo facilities in the city. BJP leaders from the city unit have already demanded financial assistance from the state government. In this backdrop, Patil, who is also the BJP state chief, has demanded reconsideration of spending heavily on the jumbo facilities when the number of Covid-19 positive patients in Pune is showing a downward trend.
