NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan visited a newly-created temporary hospital with 1,000 beds for Covid-19 patients on Sunday, officials said.
The facility near the IGI Airport has been constructed in just 12 days by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Tata Trust on land belonging to the Ministry of Defence.
“Visited the 1,000 bed Sardar Patel Covid Hospital, which has 250 ICU beds, along with @rajnathsingh ji. DRDO built it in a record time of 12 days with assistance from MHA, MOHFW, Armed Forces and Tata Trust,” Shah said in a tweet.
He thanked the DRDO, Tatas and the armed forces medical personnel ‘who have risen to the occasion and helped tackle the emergency.’ Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also accompanied the Union ministers.
An urgent need to augment the existing hospital beds capacity of Delhi for the Covid-19 patients was discussed between the MHA and the Ministry of Defence on the modalities of deploying a 1,000-bed hospital in a span of less than 14 days, a home ministry statement said.
Commissioning of this hospital will contribute to an increase of 11 percent additional Covid-19 beds in Delhi, thus overcoming the current critical situation, according to a home ministry statement.
The facilities include oxygen supply to each bed, X-Ray, ECG, haematological test facilities, ventilators, test lab, wheel chairs, stretchers and other medical equipment.
The hospital has a dedicated DRDO managed psychological counselling centre for the mental well-being of patients.
Patients referred by the district administrations will be admitted and treated free of cost at this facility, the statement said.