To ensure that private hospitals strictly follow government regulations, Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad on Thursday directed 16 private hospitals to reserve 80% of their beds for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Mr. Gaikwad told The Hindu that in the next few days, similar directives will be issued to other private hospitals to preclude a shortage of beds like in Mumbai.
“These hospitals have been directed to treat patients at government rates. A number of cases have emerged wherein patients have complained of being charged exorbitant rates, running into lakhs of rupees. Such cases are being probed as well,” Mr. Gaikwad said.
Late last month, the civic chief had warned that private hospitals refusing to treat or overcharging COVID-19 patients were liable to face legal action under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
This was in accordance with a State government resolution issued on May 21.
Mr. Gaikwad said the fresh directive was issued to make sure private hospitals comply with the government order.
“General directives are routinely ignored. Some private hospitals even send their juniors for meetings with civic authorities to discuss intake of COVID-19 patients in their establishments. At other times, they do not correctly disclose their available capacity. We have appointed a team of doctors to verify their facilities and check whether they are under-reporting beds available for COVID-19 patients,” he said.
Mr. Gaikwad said the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will secure around 1,700 more beds at these 16 private hospitals, including 900 beds with oxygen supply. The PMC currently has 9,000 COVID-19 beds across different medical facilities.
Spike in district
Meanwhile, Pune district reported a spike of 450 new COVID-19 cases as the district’s cumulative tally, including deaths and recoveries, rose to 13,685. The district’s death toll has climbed to 540, with eight fatalities reported in the past 24 hours.
Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr. Deepak Mhaisekar said of these, only 4,794 cases are active, while more than 8,351 people have been discharged so far. The district’s current recovery rate stands at 61.02%.
The total death toll in Pune division, which includes Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur districts along with Pune, has risen to 758. The division’s total case tally stands at 17,342, of which 5,828 are active. In all, 10,756 people in these five districts have been discharged thus far, Dr. Mhaisekar said. A total 296 patients are critical in the division.
After Pune district, Solapur reported the second-highest rise in cases in the division, with 86 new cases taking its tally to 1,897. However, only 685 of these are active, with 1,048 people discharged so far. Solapur’s death toll has risen to 164.
“Satara has reported only four new cases to take the district’s total tally to 770. Of these, the number of active patients has come down to 161, with 574 recoveries thus far,” Dr. Mhaisekar said.
Sangli district reported 15 new cases to take its tally to 262, of which 124 are active. Kolhapur reported only two new cases to take its tally to 728, of which merely 64 are active, with 656 recoveries.
