Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar has sought issuance of show-cause notices to the agencies operating a jumbo COVID Care hospital following allegations of mismanagement at the facility.
Kumar paid a visit to the jumbo care facility set up on the premises of the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in Shivajinagar area, where a Marathi news channel reporter died on Wednesday allegedly as he did not get a cardiac ambulance on time.
The civic chief on Wednesday took a review of the medical and logistical facilities there.
During a review meeting held with the personnel of the Lifeline Hospitals Services, which operates the facility, and AAA Healthcare, its consultant, Kumar pointed out that required number of medical experts and staff for 800-bed hospital were not available.
After the review, Kumar wrote a letter to the commissioner of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) and asked him to issue show-cause notices to the concerned agencies.
He also said that there were complaints that the patients admitted at the facility are not getting breakfast and meals on time.
In his letter, Kumar said there were issues like improper dead body management, unavailability of enough data entry operators, delay inpatient admission, lack of coordination between the agencies at the jumbo care facility.
He alleged that despite clear instructions to set up 50 beds for suspected COVID-19 patients, there are actually only 10 beds available for them.
The jumbo facility was recently inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The administration had at that time said that the facility will have 800 beds, including 200 ICU ones.
After the death of the journalist, there were allegations about mismanagement at the facility.
The deceased journalist's sister had said her brother would have been alive had the cardiac ambulance been made available in time.
She also alleged gross mismanagement at the facility, saying that it was being managed by trainee doctors.
