Private hospitals in Pune face shortage of Remdesivir, oxygen

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 14 (ANI): COVID-19 cases are increasing in Pune every passing day, but Private hospitals are facing problems in treating patients due to shortage of oxygen supply and Remdesivir injections.
Currently, there are hardly any ventilator beds available in the city hospitals as the flow of patients has been increasing.
Speaking to ANI, Dr Mukund Penurkar, Director of Sanjeevan Hospital said that he has to either refuse admission to patients in need of oxygen supply or send them to other hospitals where it is available.
"There has been a shortage of oxygen supply for last 2-3 days due to which we had to either deny admission to patients in need of oxygen supply or send them to other hospitals where oxygen is available. With the limited oxygen supply we have to look after patients admitted here already because their supply also has to be maintained," Dr Penurkar said.
He further said that the shortage of ventilator beds is also a problem.
"Ventilator beds are a major problem as there is already a shortage of ventilator beds across the city. Not only that even the Remdesivir injection which is one of the medicine we are using to cure the patient was also not available at many places. These things have to be streamlined as every hospital including ours have increased bed capacity for COVID patient treatment and we are all prepared to treat them well if provided these things on time" he added.
Meanwhile, after the second wave of the virus in the country, the demand for oxygen has increased in the city. The suppliers are facing difficulties in procuring it from the manufacturers.
"This second wave has increased the demand of oxygen here. Normally during the non- covid times, we used to provide 5-6 tons of liquid oxygen to the hospitals but now it has been increased up to 18 tons. We are facing difficulties in supplying it due to the increased cases across Maharashtra," Atul Nalawade, owner of United Gas told ANI.
Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced the imposition of Section 144 in the state from Wednesday (today) in view of rising COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra reported 60,212 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours yesterday. (ANI)