KASARGOD: As the nation mourns the demise of industrialist Ratan Tata, Kasaragod remembers the invaluable support the Tata Group provided the district during the pandemic.
The group’s establishment of a Covid hospital in the region proved especially crucial when the state’s borders were closed, making it difficult for patients to access medical care.
At a critical moment during the pandemic, when the district was grappling with a shortage of treatment facilities, the Tata Trust, under the leadership of Ratan Tata, rapidly built a Covid hospital and dedicated it to the nation.
The hospital was officially opened on October 9, 2020. As many as 5,000 Covid patients, 3,500 of them critical, were treated and cured at the hospital.
A V Ramdas, Kasaragod District Medical Officer (DMO), said, “We were able to treat many patients who came to the hospital in critical condition due to Covid. The hospital played a key role in helping the district overcome the crisis created during the pandemic. Thanks to Tata Trust’s commitment to social responsibility, coupled with the swift intervention of the Kerala health and family welfare department and the district administration, the hospital was constructed expeditiously, enabling it to provide essential medical care.”
The Tata Hospital in Kasaragod is considered one of the hospitals in India built from the ground up specifically for treating Covid patients. The hospital was built using customised shipping containers, each measuring 40 ft long, 10 ft tall, and 10 ft wide.
The fully-equipped facility, comprising 540 beds arranged within 128 containers across six blocks, began treating patients from October 28, 2020.
D Sajith Babu, who was the Kasaragod district collector during the installation of Tata Hospital, said, “When the government announced that the Tata Group was planning to build a hospital in Kasaragod and gave us three months to locate a suitable site, we were able to find the perfect location within just 15 days. Initially, the Tata Group estimated that the hospital construction would take six months to complete. However, they exceeded expectations by finishing the project in just three months.”