By Udbhav Bhargava
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
On July 9th, the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID Hospital, a temporary 1,000-bed medical center spread over 25,000 sq meters of Indian Air Force land near the domestic T1 terminal at Delhi airport, opened its doors to patients. The facility has been designed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO)-from scratch in just 12 days. The Union Home and Health Ministries, and Tata Sons were also active in constructing the hospital. The humungous project was sponsored by a handful of corporations as well as employees of DRDO who donated the salary for a day.
ITS IMPORTANCE
The hospital’s 250 ICU beds would increase the capacity of Delhi’s ICU bed by 11% and would help Delhi battle COVID-19 during critical situation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said on the day of the inauguration, that currently there was no shortage of hospital beds and that has over 15,000 beds, 5,300 of which are occupied. But he laid high emphasis on the paucity of ICU beds in Delhi and further said that these ICU beds will be extremely critical for us, if spike in Covid cases is noticed.
The facility is open to any positive Covid-19 patient; given they have a test report. All in-hospital medical care is safe. The hospital will have a total of 146 physicians. They are from the Medical Services Directorate General of the Armed Forces (DGAFMS), and from the Medical College of the Armed Forces (AFMC) in Pune. Around 50 nursing personnel and paramedical and support staff will be in attendance. A patient on the facility may also have an RT-PCR test conducted. The patient’s samples would be obtained and sent to the Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, to perform the study. The result will be given in just a couple of hours.
MORE ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
The hospital has 4 main hangars with 250 beds each. One hangar is reserved for the ICU – it is named Shaheed Col. B Santosh Babu ICU Ward After the Army officer who lost his life along with 19 others in the clash with Chinese soldiers in Galwan, Ladakh. The other general wards are named after other fallen soldiers – Shaheed Nb Sub Satnam Singh Medical Ward, Shaheed Nb Sub Nuduram Soren and Shaheed Nb Sub Mandeep Singh Medical Ward.
UNIQUE FEATURE OF THE HOSPITAL
- One of the hospital’s special characteristics is the central air conditioning and negative pressure gradient indoors. It means that the air is not re-circulated, possibly causing cross-infections, and that the hangar is not allowed to be used. In hospitals, air conditioning is typically such that the air inside the wards is recirculated. The system is such that the air inside, which may have the virus, is thrown out, allowing fresh air to always be present inside. This ensures there is no cross-contamination.
- Covid-19 causes a major breathing problem, and when one is heavily infected, oxygen is essential for survival. With this in mind, a vertical cryogenic medical oxygen tank is mounted at the hospital. This tank has enough liquid oxygen for 1,000 patients for a 4-day duration.
- There are 250 ICU-ventilator beds in the hospital, each with a ventilator that has been procured by the DRDO through the PM-CARES Fund. Some of the ventilators have been built by Bharat Electronics in collaboration with the DRDO; others by AgVa Tech. A pharmacy is being run by Apollo Pharmacy at the site. The facility will employ four medical robot trolleys. The trolleys are remote-controlled and can carry food and medicines, as well as provide distance video chat services to patients.
- Biomedical waste shall be disposed of at the plant as per policy. A waste treatment facility located on the property will handle the water from toilets. The water is chlorinated and treated with UV.
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