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New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) The Defence Ministry on Sunday said that all the defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) have been extending all possible assistance to the civil administration/state governments in the fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases across the country.
Under these efforts, a 180-bed COVID care centre, with ICU, oxygen and ventilator support, set up by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been made functional in Bengaluru while another 250-bed facility has been handed over to municipal authorities under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
The HAL has also set up a 70-bed facility in Koraput in Odisha and a 40-bed hospital in Nasik which are operational now whereas work has been under progressto set up a 250-bed COVID care facility in Lucknow which is expected to be operational in the first week of May.
Further, HAL is planning to provide more ventilators and oxygen points at Bangalore and Lucknow facilities.
Another defence PSU, OFB has been providing COVID care services, including oxygen beds, at their facilities in 25 places in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha and Uttarakhand.
Precisely, 813 beds out of total strength of 1,405 are now reserved for COVID patients at its facilities at Pune, Ambernath, Nagpur, Bhandara, Chanda, Varangaon and Bhusawal in Maharashtra,at Ishapore and Kolkata.
Other places where OFB is providing its facilities for COVID care are Kanpur Shahjahanpur,and Muradnagar in Uttar Pradesh,Jabalpur,Itarsi, Katni in Madhya Pradesh, Avadi,Aruvankadu,and Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu Medak in Telangana, Dehradun and Badmal in Odisha.
Apart from these, the other PSUs such as Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), BEML Limited, HAL, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited and MIDHANI, have also fast-tracked procurement of oxygen plants to deliver to local government hospitals in different states under CSR.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh while reviewing the Covid preparation in Ministry, three Armed Forces, Defence Research and Development Organization and its public sector units across the country on April 20 instructed them to aid and assist the civil administration in fighting this deadly disease.
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