Yogi Adityanath to open UP’s largest corona treatment facility in Noida today

NOIDA: The city’s public health care apparatus will turn a corner on Saturday when its new flagship government hospital, several years in the making but catalysed by the pandemic, is declared officially ready to treat patients.

The hospital, which has a capacity of 400 beds and will be the largest state-run Covid facility in UP, will be inaugurated by chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Spread across eight floors and equipped with its own diagnostics laboratory and blood bank, it has been set up in the Sector 39 building that was meant to house the new District Hospital and will revert to its original purpose after the pandemic, adding what promises to be the premier facility in the city in the near future for all-patient care.
The Noida Covid Hospital (NCH), its inaugural name, will take some more time to admit patients to capacity. It will start with 168 beds as an L2 facility, catering to symptomatic and critical Covid-19 patients, and add 200 L1 beds – for patients with mild symptoms – subsequently. The hospital has been developed by Tata Trusts in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Construction of the building was completed in 2019 by the Noida Authority.
Of the 168 beds, the health department has demarcated 17 for ICU, nine for emergencies and six as HDU (high dependency unit). The remaining beds will be available in the general ward.
“If you look at other government facilities in Uttar Pradesh, none of them has been converted to a Covid hospital under the health department at such a large scale. Most districts have community health centres (CHS), primary health centres (PHC) or district hospitals. There are medical colleges that have been converted to Covid facilities. But no government hospital has been turned into a Covid facility,” Noida district magistrate Suhas LY said. “So, NCH is definitely the first and the biggest government Covid hospital in the state.”
Suhas said Covid patients will be shifted to the new facility soon after the inauguration. “We will shift patients as soon as possible. All patients from the district fever clinic, Sector 125 L1 Covid hospital and anyone in home isolation who needs advanced medical treatment will be brought here,” he said. So far, 22 doctors have been drafted in for the facility.
The ICU, emergency room and blood blank are located on the first floor while the ground floor has the outpatient departments (OPD). The patient wards will be from levels three to six. The hospital administration will be at the top floor, where the office of the chief medical officer will also eventually shift, turning it into the local headquarters of the health department.
Tata Trusts, a spokesperson said, has developed four such hospitals in UP and Maharashtra. “Tata Trusts has handed over the L2 Covid-19 treatment facility that it developed at the Sector 39 hospital building to the Uttar Pradesh government. The facilities include in-patient and outpatient wings. The hospital is one of the four facilities that Tata Trusts has developed in UP and Maharashtra. The other hospital in UP is in Gonda. Construction has been carried out by Tata Projects Limited and the design is by Edifice Consultants Private Limited,” the Tata Trusts spokesperson said, adding NCH is equipped with critical care units, minor operation theatres, basic pathology and radiology units, facilities for dialysis and telemedicine units.
Tata Trusts has also provided equipment like thermometers, oximeters, medicine carts and nursing tables for the hospital. The fifth and sixth floors have 136 L2 beds. “All beds across ICU, emergency, HDU and wards are equipped with oxygen support lines,” said a spokesperson for Tata Project Limited. The seventh floor has a staff dining area and a centralised kitchen. “The hospital has to take a gas connection and get utensils. Rest of the facility is being provided by the Tatas,” the spokesperson added.
Noida currently has GIMS, Child PGI and Sharda hospital as its primary Covid treatment facilities, besides private hospitals that are also treating patients who get infected during the pandemic. Once fully developed, NCH will become its primary Covid care hospital.