900-bed COVID-19 hospital starts running in Ahmedabad

A 900-bed COVID-19 hospital,set up jointly by the DRDO and the Gujarat government, startedfunctioning in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

In the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases, thefacility, named Dhanvantari Covid Hospital, has been set upat the Gujarat University Convention Centre here, according tothe Chief Ministers Office (CMO).

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and state Chief MinisterVijay Rupani visited the facility on Friday.

“The 900-bed Dhanvantari Covid Hospital at the GujaratUniversity Convention Centre in Ahmedabad has started treatingpatients from today. Only referral patients will be admittedfor treatment in this hospital under the 108 centralisedsystem,” the CMO said in a press note.

The capacity of the facility can be enhanced by 500beds, according to the state government.

Shah told reporters on Friday that the facility, setup by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)in collaboration with the Gujarat government, has all thenecessary equipment and facilities, including CT Scan.

The Centre had recently announced that 25 doctors and75 paramedics from paramilitary forces would be deployed atthe facility.

Shah had said another temporary hospital with 1,200beds will come up in Gandhinagar soon.

On Saturday, Gujarat recorded 14,097 COVID-19 cases,its highest single-day spike so far, taking the overallinfection count in the state to 4,81,737.

The state also reported its highest single-dayfatality count of 152 on Saturday, pushing the toll to 6,171,while there were 1,07,594 active cases in the state, as perofficial data.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)