Indian Army sets up 100-bed COVID-19 facility in Faridabad

A fortnight after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced that a 100-bed hospital for Covid patients would be set up at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College in collaboration with the Indian Army, the facility began operations on Tuesday morning.

According to officials, another 100 beds will be added to the facility “in the next one month”. In addition, 30 ventilator beds will also be arranged. Of the 100 beds currently operational at the hospital, officials said 65 beds have been reserved for men and 35 for women. The facility will offer “Level 2 medical care to mild/symptomatic patients”, said officials.

“The primary treatment of Covid patients will be done at this hospital. Those who are referred from here will be taken to ESI Medical College in NIT-5, Faridabad,” said Yashpal Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad.

Officials said that the Indian Army will do all the work regarding treatment and management of patients at the hospital, which will have a team of 10 doctors as well as nursing staff, all of whom will be from the army and will work in coordination with the local health department.

The hospital has also been equipped with 300 oxygen cylinders, and 400 more will be arranged “as per the requirement”. In addition, the facility will have 24 hours ambulance service.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the hospital on Tuesday morning, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Krishan Pal Gurjar, said, “Whenever a disaster has struck the country, the Indian Army has always stood as a shield. Whether it is to protect the country’s borders or to provide better health facilities to the people in a disaster like Corona today, the Indian Army has always come forward and offered help.”

Faridabad, which currently has over 10,000 active Covid cases, has been facing a shortage of beds in recent days. The web portal created for real-time data on this indicated that, as of 3.30 pm on Tuesday, there were 531 vacant oxygen beds for Covid patients in the district, but the number of vacant ICU beds was down to 129, and only 40 ventilator beds were available.