The facility was closed in Feb after cases dipped. (Express archive) With cases spiking in the capital, the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) will reopen its temporary Covid facility with 500 ICU beds at the Delhi Cantonment area by next week. A spokesperson of the organisation told The Indian Express that the first 250 beds will be ready in the next seven days.
Delhi has recorded 66,273 cases this month, with the doubling rate coming down from 16 days to six days in the last one month.
The facility was shut down on February 18 as Covid cases had come down, Major General SS Bhatia, VSM, Additional Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (DG AFMS) (E&S), told The Indian Express.
Last year on July 5, the DRDO had inaugurated the 1,000-bed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Covid hospital. Spread over 25,000 sq mts, it was built in 12 days on land owned by the Indian Air Force near the New Delhi Domestic Terminal 1 on Ulan Batar Marg in Delhi Cantonment Area. It had 250 ICU beds. The hospital was run by healthcare staff from DG AFMCS as well as from the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune. This time, doctors of the military and paramilitary shall be present.
The hospital was a temporary structure, with four main hangars. It had a vertical cryogenic medical oxygen tank capable of sustaining oxygen needs of 1,000 patients for four days.
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