A task force set up at NTPC regional headquarters to handle airlifted patients

Power generation Maharatna urges government to restore oxygen supply to power plants

Implementing decisions when it matters most is more daunting than the task of taking decisions itself, particularly when it is a major public sector undertaking such as NTPC.

While the decision to airlift its COVID-affected and seriously-ill employees from a smaller hospital, whether in-house or outside, to a super speciality hospital elsewhere is bold, making arrangements for airlifting, treatment, monitoring the treatment, taking care of attendants in a place faraway from the patient’s (employee) place of work needs an extra mile of effort.

Explaining the teamwork behind the airlifting of seriously-ill COVID patients and following-up their treatment, Executive Director (Southern Region) C.V. Anand told

The Hindu that they have formed a task force working 24×7 in Hyderabad to handle such critically-ill cases in coordination with the Corporate Office in Delhi, who are in constant interaction over a dedicated WhatsApp group.

“After getting the requisition to airlift a seriously-ill patient for admission in a corporate hospital for better treatment, our team places the request for admission with corporate hospitals along with the condition of the patient and pursues it constantly. So far, we have been able to accommodate the patients here in a couple of days after getting the request. The Corporate Office handles the airlifting aspect,” says Mr. Anand.

He stated that they were also taking care of the attendants of the patients shifted here by providing them accommodation in the company guest house and other logistics during their stay as they are required here for admission and any quick decision-making with regard to the patient’s treatment. The corporate medical wing of the company would keep a tab on the treatment by being in touch with the doctors attending the patient, he explained.

Industrial oxygen

The curtailed or complete stoppage of industrial oxygen supply to its power plants in the Southern Region has been affecting the work although they have been able to manage so far. “We have placed a formal request with the State government, a couple of days back, to restore oxygen supply at least partially so that the main activity of the company is not hampered,” Mr. Anand said adding that they were also in virtual touch with the workforce constantly to keep them in the positive frame of mind amid grim situation arising out of the pandemic.