New Delhi, Jul 5 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday visited the 1,000-bedded Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID-19 Hospital which has been set up by the DRDO in Delhi Cantonment area.
Built in record time of 12 days, this fully air-condition hospital has 1,000 bed with 250 ICUs. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Home affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Armed Forces and Tata Sons took initiative of the special facility.
On the occasion, Mr Shah highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to help the people of Delhi in these challenging times.
He also thanked DRDO, Tatas and the Armed Forces Medical personnel for their help to tackle the situation.
Taking initiatives for the design, development and operationalisation of the facility on a war footing, the DRDO, with consent of Indian Air Force, identified land situated near the New Delhi Domestic Terminal T1 and the construction work by DRDO commenced on June 23 at the site on Ulan Bator road, adjacent to Comptroller General of Defence Accounts office.
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 DRDO.
Additionally, for the mental well-being of patients, the hospital has a dedicated DRDO managed psychological counselling centre. COVID-19 patients referred by the District Administration will be admitted and treated free of cost at this facility while critical cases will be referred to AIIMS.
"The infrastructure is built with negative internal pressure gradient for safe contagion containment. The facility has been engineered using rapid fabrication technique based on octanorm modules”, an MHA statement said.
The corridor network in the Hospital has been designed to keep the patient’s movement separate from the doctors and staff movement. Sanitation facilities and toilets are situated between the blocks for easy access to patients and facility personnel, it added.
The Patient Blocks are self-sufficient with facilities for patients and medical care staff. Patient facilities include Oxygen Supply to each bed, X-Ray, ECG, Haematological test facilities, Ventilators, Covid Test Lab, Wheel Chairs, Stretchers and other medical equipment. DRDO developed COVID-19 technologies productionised by the Industry in the last 3 months such as Ventilators, Decontamination Tunnels, PPEs, N95 Masks, Contact-Free Sanitiser Dispensers, Sanitisation Chambers and Medical Robots Trolleys will be utilised at the facility.
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