Delhi Preparing First Makeshift COVID-19 Hospitals Like China Did | Details Here

The 10,000-bed hospital near the Delhi-Haryana border will come up by the end of this month as the spiritual organisation has already given its nod for setting it up.

New Delhi: The Delhi government has identified a spot in South Delhi to set up the city’s first makeshift COVID-19 hospital. The area belongs to Radha Swami Satsang — a spiritual organisation. This comes at a time when the capital city is witnessing a sudden spike in the number of cases amid a severe dearth of hospital beds for the treatment. China built several such makeshift hospitals in Wuhan when cases reached a peak in the country in February.

The Delhi High Court on Saturday ordered the Delhi government and the Centre to increase beds, ventilators for COVID-19 patients in the national capital.

Here are the details of the hospital:

1. It will have 10,000 bed — the number of beds Delhi now has
2. It will be built by the end of June
3. The lush green campus is located near the Delhi-Haryana border.
4. The COVID-19 facility will be 1,700 feet long and 700 feet wide
5. It will have 200 enclosures with 50 beds each.
6. The tent will be made of metal, will have lights and fans installed.
7. Coolers will also be installed after consulting with medical experts.
8. The spiritual organisation gave its approval for the makeshift hospital two-three days ago.
9. The Delhi government has also started the process to identify community halls and stadiums which can be converted into makeshift COVID-19 hospitals.
10. According to the Delhi government’s estimates, coronavirus cases in the national capital are likely to breach the 5 lakh-mark by the end of July. Around one lakh beds will be needed for COVID-19 patients.

The bed crisis in the capital came to the surface when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered to seal the borders of the capital and also sought public opinion on whether the COVID-19 beds in the state government hospital in the capital should be reserved for only Delhi people. After getting public opinion in favour of reserving beds for Delhi people only, the CM passed an order which said that outsiders are eligible to get treatments in Central government hospitals, while the state hospitals will be reserved for Delhi people. A day later, the order was reversed by the LG who said Delhi is open to all.

Giving a rough estimate, the CM had said Delhi will need 33,000 beds by July 15. The number will be doubled — 65,000 — if outsiders are also allowed. By July 31, 80,000 beds were projected for the people of Delhi, the CM said explaining why the reservation was required.