Courtesy-USC News
The Centre plans to quickly ramp up state health infrastructure by setting up 50 innovative modular hospitals across the nation in two-three months to gear up for facing any new surge in COVID cases or a third wave.
As an extension of operational infrastructure, modular hospitals will be built adjacent to an existing hospital building. A dedicated zone of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) can be set up at an estimated cost of nearly ₹3 crores with the 100 bedded modular hospital in three weeks and made fully operational in 6-7 weeks. The project shall be initially implemented in state-run and philanthropic hospitals. The project is initiated by K Vijay Raghavan who is in the office of a principal scientific advisor. In India’s fight against COVID-19, these rapidly deployable hospitals are intended to plug a major health infrastructure gap especially in rural areas and smaller towns.
Member of the industry-academia collaboration division in the principal scientific advisor’s office, Aaditi Lele said TOI that to have the eligibility of attaching a modular hospital, any government hospital having basic facilities such as electricity, water supply and oxygen pipeline shall be capable of doing so. According to her, they have been in touch with state governments to identify the requirement, specifically in states where a higher number of cases are reported.
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Amravati, Pune, Jalna (Maharashtra) and Mohali (Punjab) shall be the places where the first batch of 100 bed modular hospitals shall be commissioned along with a 20-bed hospital in Raipur (Chhattisgarh). Bengaluru will have one each of 20, 50, and 100 beds in the first phase.