PUNE: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s plan to start a special ward for suspected swine flu patients at the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) may be shelved as the civic body now plans to start a special ward at the government-run ESI hospital at Aundh.

Speaking to TOI, PCMC’s chief medical officer Nagkumar Kunchagi, said the corporation intends to open two wards for treating suspected swine flu patients at the ESI hospital at Aundh. “The ESI hospital building has been lying empty and we can use it for setting up wards for treating cases of suspected swine flu. We want to set up two wards, each with a 25-bed capacity,” he said.

Kunchagi said the corporation has requested the state health department to allot space in the ESI hospital to start these wards. “The Public Works Department of the state government is in possession of the ESI hospital building, which we inspected two days back. The PWD must conduct the repair work and hand over the necessary space to the PCMC for these wards,” he added.

“All the necessary arrangements have been made. If the state government grants the permission, then we will start this ward at the ESI hospital very soon,” said Kunchagi.

Initially, the PCMC was planning to open a 16-bed ward for treating suspected swine flu patients on the fourth floor of the YCMH.