Amit Shah, Rajnath, Kejriwal, Vardhan inaugurate DRDO Covid-19 hospital

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah, along with defence minister Rajnath Singh, health minister Harsh Vardhan and chief minister Arvind Kerjiwal together inaugurated a 1,000-bed dedicated Covid hospital on Sunday set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) near the domestic terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport .

The hospital — named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel — was announced to be functional by Shah after Sunday’s visit, the Union home ministry said.

As a tribute to the Indian soldiers who were killed last month in the Galwan valley skirmish with the Chinese Army, the 250bed ICU ward of the hospital has been named after Col B Santosh Babu.

Three other medical wards have been named after Naib Subedar Mandeep Singh, Naib Subedar Satnam Singh and Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren, said a senior official of the home ministry.

Shah said in a statement, “The hospital will be operated by a team of doctors, nurses and support staff from the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), while the facility will be maintained by the DRDO. Additionally, a psychological counselling centre for patients will also be set up and managed by DRDO here . The Covid-19 patients referred by the district administration will be admitted and treated free of cost at this facility. Critical cases will be referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).”

The statement also read, “The facility was built in a record time of 12 days by DRDO along with Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Armed Forces, Tata Sons and other industry players… It undertook the design, development and operationalisation of the facility on a war footing.”