L-G inaugurates 10K-bed Covid care centre in city
Sardar Patel Covid care centre billed as the ‘largest’ of its kind in the world
Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal inaugurated a 10,000-bed Covid care centre in the Chhattarpur area of the national capital on Sunday. The Covid care centre in South Delhi is billed as the “largest” of its kind in the world. It is 1,700 feet long, 700 feet wide — roughly the size of 20 football fields — and has 200 enclosures with 50 beds each. On the first day, around 21 patients belonging to Delhi were admitted to the centre.
“The Sardar Patel Covid care centre and hospital has been developed to help the citizens of Delhi and NCR who are affected by the coronavirus. Our team of doctors and medical staffs will take care of this facility. Sardar Patel Covid care centre and hospital have 10 per cent of beds with oxygen facility,” the Delhi LG said after the inaugural.
Talking about the facilities
at the centre, Mr Baijal further said: “We have counsellors for mentally traumatic patients. We have a team of good psychiatrists and specialists in medicine.”
The centre has been set up for treating mild and asymptomatic coronavirus patients. It will also serve as a treatment centre for those who are asymptomatic but cannot afford home isolation. Gaming facilities have also been arranged to keep the spirits
of patients high inside the centre.
“Our doctors, nurses and paramedic staff will take care of this Covid-19 care facility. ITBP has experience of several months in handling Covid patients. Initially, ITBP was deployed at quarantine centres. We are also running a 200 bedded centre for the police forces in Noida,” ITBP DG S.S. Deswal said.
While the Delhi government has provided administrative support, the IndoTibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be the nodal agency operating the centre.
Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, health minister Harsh Vardhan and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday visited another newly-created temporary hospital with 1,000 beds for Covid-19 patients near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
“DRDO's 1,000-bed coronavirus hospital is ready. I thank the Central government on behalf of Delhiites. It (hospital) has 250 ICU beds, which is very much needed in Delhi at the moment,” Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet.
“For now, there is no scarcity of hospital beds, we have over 15,000 beds out of which 5,300 are occupied. There is a paucity of ICU beds. If there is any spike in Covid cases, these ICU beds are very critical for us,” he said.