The Telangana unit of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has requested the DRDO chairman G. Satheesh Reddy to establish an exclusive temporary 500-bed COVID hospital for children in the name of former President APJ Abdul Kalam on any of the vast open spaces available to the Defence Ministry in Secunderabad to prepare for a possible third wave of the pandemic.
In a communication to Dr. Reddy, a copy of which was released to the media on Friday, organisation spokersperson R. Shashidhar said the hospital could be on the lines of those already established in various places across the country, including the 750-bed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel hospital in Delhi, 900-bed Dhanvantari hospital in Ahmedabad, a 500-bed ESI hospital in Patna, a 750-bed Pandit Rajan Mishra hospital in Varanasi, a 500-bed Atal Bihari Vajpayee hospital in Lucknow, 500-bed General Bipin Chandra Joshi hospital in Haldwani and so on.
He stated the former president had a special affinity to the twin cities as he had spent many years working as a scientist in many of the DRDO labs and had a special love for children, hence it would be fit to name the hospital after him, a press release said.
