10 days, 10K beds: India’s largest COVID centre flagged off in Delhi

The 10,000-bed Sardar Patel COVID care centre, the country’s largest COVID-19 facility at Radha Soami Satsang Beas set up to treat mild and asymptomatic cases, was inaugurated on Sunday (July 5) by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

Set up within just 10 days by the district administration of South Delhi with the support of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the facility will also admit asymptomatic patients who cannot afford home isolation.

“The facility has been created to provide stress-free and mindful isolation to the patients,” said a government release.

Spread on an area of the size of 20 football fields, the facility has 200 enclosures with 50 beds each. It has mud floors covered by carpets and vinyl sheets and will be cooled by 18,000 tons of A/C.

The facility will first run with 2,000 beds with the help of 170 doctors of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and more than 700 nurses and paramedics.

The facility has been divided into three divisions – the largest one is for patients, another is for doctors and the third is the command sections.

Volunteers from the religious sect Radhi Soami Beas will assist in running the centre.

While patients will be given all amenities including recreational facilities, relatives will not be allowed into the campus.

Hospital authorities will use an e-hospital app to handle the admission and discharge of patients.