Delhi Government has started converting the Radha Soami Spiritual Centre in South Delhi into the world’s largest COVID-19 care facility with 10,000 beds. The decision has been taken to rapidly increase the capacity and effectively manage the anticipated wave of COVID-19 cases in the national capital. An interesting feature of this facility would be its corrugated cardboard beds, which need not be sanitised and are recyclable. Vikram Dhavan, Director of Dhavan Box Sheet Containers Pvt Ltd told that these beds need not be sanitised as the virus does not remain stable on cardboard for more than 24 hours. “On metal, plastic and wood the virus can stay up to five days. These beds are also really light, easy to assemble and dismantle. Supplying these beds for the facility is a matter of pride for us,” said Dhavan.
The centre has a covered area of 12,50,000 sq ft. The centre is as large as 22 football fields, with pre-installed fans and CCTV cameras. Before the pandemic, almost 3 lakh people would attend sermons here. The facility was being used to shelter migrant workers until recently. Its community kitchens are semi-industrial and can feed thousands of people at a time, said Vikas Sethi, Secretary of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Bhati Mines.
According to South Delhi District Magistrate BM Mishra, who is overseeing the work, the facility set will function like 20 mini hospitals with 500 beds each. He said that each 500-bed hospital will have 5-10 enclosures of 50-100 beds. 10% of the beds will have an oxygen supply. However, it will not have ventilators. We have made arrangements for referral with super speciality hospitals for critical patients.
Facilities will have ambulances; its own pathology laboratory for testing and at least 400 doctors will be working here in two shifts, backed by double the number of paramedics. To ensure that the facility is well-managed, Mishra said they were trying to implement the best e-management systems used in hospitals. They are working on a war footing and hope to complete it by June 30, he added. As per Delhi government, COVID-19 cases in the national capital are likely to breach the 5 lakh mark by July end and around one lakh beds will be needed.
