As the coronavirus cases continue to surge in Pune with nearly 1.7 lakh coronavirus positive cases being reported, Siddharth Shirole – the BJP MLA from the Shivajinagar constituency in Pune on Sunday said despite the sporadic rise in the number of cases, the city is well equipped to tackle the fresh coronavirus cases provided the Maha Vikas Aghadi government professionally ran the health centres.
Speaking to OpIndia on the issue of the recent rise in cases in Pune, Siddharth Shirole, who is leading the charge of Pune’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, said that even though there was a sudden splurge in the coronavirus cases, there is no need to panic as the mortality rate is in very much in control in Pune.
Shirole, who represents Shivajinagar constituency of Pune, added that they have already created enough healthcare facilities that are equipped with ventilators and oxygen support that could treat nearly 2,000 coronavirus patients effectively.
“The numbers have increased in the last 7-8 days. Fortunately, we have sufficient infrastructure in terms of oxygen beds and ventilators…Our only objective is to get the mortality down and it can be done with early detection and treatment,” Siddharth Shirole added saying they were ready to tackle the pandemic if the second wave of coronavirus cases hits the city.
The Shivajinagar MLA also said the city now has two dedicated coronavirus facility of 2,000 beds, one in Pune and the other in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation areas. However, Shirole insisted that there is a need for carrying out more real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the fresh cases in the city, which according to him has now spread to more affluent areas of the city.
The early detection of the cases and treatment is extremely important in keeping a check on mortality rates, said Shirole.
“The early intervention, detection will lead to better treatment thus reducing the number of mortality rates in Pune,” the Shivajinagar MLA pointed out while speaking to OpIndia.
Maharashtra government need to run coronavirus facilities effectively
According to Shirole, the newly created infrastructure in both Pune and PCMC areas are sufficient to tackle the crisis, however, in order to carry out effective treatment, he added that the Maharashtra government needs to responsibly manage the jumbo coronavirus centres that were recently built in Maharashtra’s second-largest city.
Interestingly, the two jumbo coronavirus centres, an 800-bed-facility each at Pune and PCMC, were only built after an intervention from Siddharth Shirole. With private facilities already stretched and also being used for non-COVID related cases, Shirole had fought hard for a dedicated coronavirus facility in Pune to free up the private and other healthcare facilities to treat non-COVID patients from in and around the city.
Earlier in July, Siddharth Shirole had also written a letter to the central government seeking intervention from them to ward off the looming medical infrastructure crisis in Pune.
In a scathing criticism of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, Shirole had said that the Maharashtra government had left Pune to fend for itself from the surging coronavirus spread. He had accused the government of gross negligence which has pushed the city on the cusp of a medical calamity.
Accusing the state government of failing on multiple levels, Siddharth Shirole had said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had not made a single visit to Pune in the last three months either to oversee the preparedness of the administration.
After a long battle with the Shivajinagar MLA over the issue of dedicated coronavirus facility in Pune, the Maharashtra government had finally relented in the last week of July and had agreed to set up two dedicated coronavirus facilities in Pune.
Maharashtra government need to enforce Central guidelines on coronavirus, need to relax restrictions
The Pune MLA also said that the Maharashtra government should follow the guidelines issued by the centre and relax certain restrictions to restart the economic activities in the state.
Explaining that the continuous restrictions is detrimental to the economic activity of the country, Shirole accused the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of regulating travel and imposing curfew that has resulted in slowing down of business activity. He also added that the e-pass facility has become a cumbersome process and already turned out to be a big hurdle for people to start their livelihood.
The lawmaker also urged the Maharashtra government to adhere to the recently issued guidelines and open up the state for the economic revival of small, medium and big businesses across industries.
Siddharth Shirole, rejecting the idea of another lockdown to bring down the number of cases in the state, the lockdown will not help to tackle the pandemic but instead opening up of the economic activities could revive the livelihood of the people in the state, he added.
As of Sunday, August 30, Pune has recorded almost 1,70,000 total coronavirus positive cases with almost 4,000 new cases registered on Saturday. More than 1,16,000 patients have already recovered with only less than 50,000 active cases.
It has overtaken Mumbai long back, which has been one of the major hotspots for coronavirus. As of now, Maharashtra contributes to over 21% of total coronavirus cases in India. Maharashtra also contributes to almost 40% of total deaths due to coronavirus in India, with more than 7,64,000 cases and nearly 24,000 deaths.