NRI converts house into virus care home
TRIVANDRUM: The Uae-based entrepreneur Sohan Roy has donated his palatial home in Kerala to health authorities to convert it as a care home for coronavirus ( COVID-19) patients.
Even with minimal tests happening across India, suspected cases are increasing in India and the southern state, which is struggling to find space to accommodate them, is no different.
Currently, 163,129 people who were in contact with COVID-19 patients in the state are under quarantine, but swab samples of only 6,381 have been tested so far.
Kerala reported seven new cases on Tuesday, taking the total infections so far to 241. Of them, 24 have recovered while two died.
With the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) clearing an indigenously developed kit and rapid tests this week, the infrastructure deficiency could be more stinging.
Roy feels many non-resident Indians (NRI) will follow suit by providing their locked up houses back home to help meet the lack of space after his offer.
“I feel Kerala is going through a fair share of hurdles as the entire world is suffering under the clutches of the pandemic,” he told Gulf Today.
“There’s an urgent requirement for isolation wards as the number of patients is growing by the day.”
The tycoon, who heads the Uae-headquartered Aries Group of Companies, which has a presence in 16 countries, made the noble gesture on his 53rd birthday.
As of Monday, the southern state could hospitalise only 658 of the 163,129 potential virus carriers, and others remain quarantined at home.
Roy’s 9,000-sq ft home at Desamangalam in Thrissur district can accommodate a good number of infected people.
According to the 2018 economic survey, 14 per cent of the houses in Kerala lie vacant, and the port city of Kochi alone has some 50,000 such unoccupied units.
Experts say if the NRIS leave them to the health authorities to set up emergency wards, that would be a big step in addressing the infrastructure deficiency. To meet the demand for space, India has started converting 20,000 railway coaches into isolation wards for suspected cases of COVID-19 patients.
“Even though this birthday has to be spent in quarantine, the mirth of getting to do something for my fellow beings has doubled its sweetness,” Roy said.