The Union Home Ministry has directed phased closure of two special COVID-19 care centres in the city in view of “continuous decline” in novel coronavirus cases, officials said on Tuesday.
While the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel COVID hospital located in the Delhi Cantonment area is managed by the DRDO, the Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre operational in south Delhi’s Chhattarpur area is managed by the ITBP.
The two facilities will be closed in phases. Those admitted will be discharged gradually and no new admissions will be done, a senior home ministry official said.
Review meeting
The decision to close the facilities, which began operations in June-July last year, was taken after a review meeting by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla.
The MHA said the two centres are being closed “due to continuous decline in COVID cases in the National Capital Territory of Delhi vis-a-vis adequate availability of medical facilities”.
It was also formulated in the meeting that the medical manpower of various Central Armed Police Force working in the ITBP-run centre should now be deployed elsewhere.
No critical patients
The Chhattarpur centre, with over 10,000 beds, has no patients in critical care at present while about 60 patients are admitted in the ward, as per official data.
This centre, established in the campus of the Radha Soami Beas, has treated over 12,000 patients till now, including some who returned from abroad.
