DRDO Covid hosp to start functioning from today
LUCKNOW : A 505-bed temporary Covid-19 hospital set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at Awadh Shilp Gram on Shaheed Path here will start functioning from Wednesday.
An initiative of defence minister Rajnath Singh to give relief to the people in Lucknow, also his parliamentary constituency, the hospital is named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It is expected to give impetus to the existing medical infrastructure in the state capital.
“DRDO’s makeshift hospital at Awadh Shilp Gram will start functioning from 12 noon on Wednesday. The admission process would be carried out via Integrated Covid Command and Control Centre (ICCCC). The hospital will offer free of cost medical facility to patients,” said Dr Narendra Kumar Arya, director of the Directorate of Public Interface (DPI), DRDO.
“Of the total 505 beds, 150 beds would serve as ICU equipped with ventilators, liquid oxygen connectivity and other life-saving logistics. The remaining 355 beds would be general,” he added. Meanwhile, Lucknow district magistrate Abhishek Prakash on Tuesday inspected the ongoing preparations at the hospital and took stock of them in a meeting. “Not only for Covid patients but the hospital would also have stay facility for the kin of the patients,” the DM said.
Prakash also inspected another makeshift 250-bed Covid hospital being set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Lucknow, at Haj House.