COVID-19: Respite for locals from Kharghar right up to Panvel

Residents from Kharghar to Panvel will soon get a Dedicated COVID Health Centre DCHC which had been a concern as they feared a second wave of the pandemic In the next few weeks a ground plus twofloor DCHC will be set up by CIDCO for PMC at Kalamboli midday in the report Second wave threat PMC has merely 120 beds for 84 lakh residents on November 25 had highlighted the poor health infrastructure in PanvelKailas Shinde joint managing director III CIDCO said As per state government directives we are setting up a DCHC at sector 5 Kalamboli which will have a 12bed intensive care facility and also 60 beds with oxygen support Our role is to set up the health infrastructure facility and hand it over to PMCAll the required facilities as per the government guidelines for COVID management needed for the DCHC will be provided by CIDCOA highly placed official in PMC said We have been demanding a jumbo care centre or DCHC when CIDCO had allowed similar set ups to come in Thane and Navi Mumbai limits But our plea though CIDCO had agreed was in the pipelineThe PMC official said Initially we shortlisted a community centre in Panvel which we intended to handover to CIDCO to convert into a DCHC However the community centre officials expressed their inability to give it as dates for events there were booked and they threatened to take the matter to court The need to have a DCHC set up on an urgent basis was informed to CIDCOSanjay Shinde deputy commissioner PMC confirmed the same and said Since the community centre at Panvel did not work out we were certain that a temporary set up would not only be a waste of money but also it would not provide any future health infra facility for the local people As CIDCO was willing to set up a DCHC facility we had to look for an alternative location and finally the Urban Health Care Centre sector 5 Kalamboli was soughtCost sanctionedA highly placed official in CIDCO informed midday that the setting up of the DCHC will cost them approximately over Rs 230 crore and this has been sanctioned When asked the reason for delay in setting up a DCHC or jumbo centre in PMC the officer said We had already floated the tenders and quotations were sought as per PMC for the community centre in Panvel Later PMC informed us about the litigation concern at Panvel and that they shortlisted Kalamboli We have started the shifting of an Urban Health Care Centre to a new place within Kalamboli and the DCHC work will begin soonOn Thursday CIDCO managed to get the final go ahead for shortlisting two cardiac ambulances for Rs 27 lakh each and within a months time they will be given to PMCWhen asked to elaborate on the DCHC facility an official from the Engineering Department of CIDCO explained Apart from refurbishing the entire ground plus two floors the scope of work would include setting a 12bed ICU with ventilator facility and 60 beds with oxygen connection Also all the required facilities as per the government guidelines for COVID management required for a DCHC will be provided This includes electrical appliances furniture fixtures rams WiFi connectivity etc We will be working round the clock to ensure that the work gets completed within the shortest time periodBoon to localsDr Pankaj Titar who was incharge of Kharghar A ward and had successfully managed to curtail the pandemic by putting maximum patients under telemedicine at home feels the DCHC will be a boon to the local residents Dr Titar said This will be the only dedicated COVID Care Centre where we can immediately transfer patients who show signs of hypoxia and patients with mild symptoms etc During the first phase we had instances where the golden hour was wasted as decisions on whether patients need to be sent to the subdistrict hospital Panvel or MGM hospital in Kalamboli could take timeTitar said the Panvel Municipal Corporation should have a dedicated team of medical experts involved in internal medicine also pulmonologists and anaesthetists Also it is important that the clinical medical experts team is involved in the DCHC set up right from the beginning so that they can assist CIDCO staff and contractors to plan it according to their longterm requirements An attached laboratory set up is a must for such a DCHC and an Xray facility is important he said840 lakh No of people under the PMCKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news