NEW DELHI: If the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the national capital, Pragati Maidan and indoor stadiums, including Talkatora, Thyagaraj, Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Dhyan Chand, could be converted into makeshift hospitals to meet eventualities.
A committee has formed under the chairmanship of Delhi’s Divisional Commissioner (DC) to explore the possibilities for setting up medical facilities at Pragati Maidan and stadiums as it was suggested that Covid-19 cases might increase sharply in the coming days.
The decision was taken during a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, health minister Satyendar Jain, chief secretary Vijay Dev and other senior government officials.
To begin with, the L-G asked all the officials to have realistic projections for physical infrastructure and human resources requirements considering possible scenarios to ramp up medical capacity on a continuous basis.
The L-G advised attendees to take lessons from other cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru to tackle the situation.
“Baijal also directed all the stakeholders for containment-zone strategy as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines and field officials to delineate containment zones properly to ensure their effective management to contain the spread of infection,” said an official. Earlier, senior government official apprised the L-G of Covid Care Delhi mobile application and the website — delhifightscorona.in — available for all information related to health facilities.
He was informed that a separate helpline no 1800-111-747 is being launched for only patient-related issues and bed availability, besides the existing state government helpline no 1031.
Health department officials said DMs were carrying out the exercise for linking 19 more hospitals with hotels, which would tentatively increase the capacity by another 2,000 beds in the city by June 15.
Hotels attached to hospitals
The Delhi government has already attached eight hotels to nearby big hospitals, where upper price cap of Rs 10,000 per day per bed is fixed, including charges for beds, housekeeping, food, and medical services