India’s largest Covid facility shapes up in New Delhi
NEW DELHI: Five rows each of 16 iron cots — topped with mattresses covered with un-creased white bedsheets, neatly folded white blankets and thin pillows with blue covers -- are laid out at a distance of five feet from each other.
On one side of each bed stands a grey plastic chair and on the other side rests a plastic stool with a sealed water bottle and a small soap atop it.
The mud floor is bare, and from the high roof hangs slowmoving fans, which would offer little comfort from the humidity but for the cool breeze flowing in from outside after a light drizzle.
On Wednesday, this was a patients’ section up on display at the campus of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur, which is set to be the biggest Covid-19 temporary facility in India with over 10,000 beds.
“The mud floor will be covered by carpets and then topped with vinyl sheets for easy cleaning. The hospital will be cooled by 18,000 tons of air-conditioners,” said BM Mishra, district magistrate (south), even as workers began spreading vinyl sheets at one corner of the facility.
The Delhi government had taken over the campus, roughly the size of 22 football fields in its effort to ramp bed strength and add medical infrastructure to combat the rapidly rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the city. The Delhi government is seeking to further increase the number of beds available for patients by setting up makeshift hospitals in 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls.
On Tuesday, home minister Amit Shah had tweeted that a large part of the facility would be operational by Friday. HTC