The COVID care facility at the Rakabganj Gurdwara, with a capacity of 250 beds, is likely to become functional on May 10, according to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC).
The 250-bed facility will also be linked to the facility in Ramlila Maidan for ICU beds, according to officials.
DSGMC president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said: “Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has said that this facility can be linked to the facility which is coming up at Ramlila Maidan. That way, patients who require emergency services and ICU beds can be shifted to the facility at Ramlila Maidan from Rakabganj Gurdwara.”
Mr. Sirsa said that while DSGMC ambulances will be deployed, the Delhi government will appoint a nodal officer and provide medical staff.
Setting up facility
Inside the facility, several rows of beds with oxygen concentrators have been laid out already, while the process for others is under way.
Bhupinder Singh, a DSGMC official who is in-charge of the COVID Care Facility, said: “We have already imported around 120 oxygen concentrators and we are expecting more. We are also expecting delivery of oxygen cylinders which people are willing to donate voluntarily. Requisite security arrangement will also be done at the premises.”
Mr. Singh also said that patients will be checked before they are admitted and those requiring ICU beds will not be admitted at the Rakabganj Gurdwara facility.
People turning up
With information about the facility being made public, Mr. Singh said that over the past few days, several patients have turned up looking for beds, even though it is not operational yet. “We have already received several queries. We get calls throughout the day asking if beds are available. Over the last two days, we have also had instances when the patients arrived in ambulances looking for a bed. We hope we can soon throw open the facility for public,” Mr. Singh said.
