COVID action group PIIndia dedicates 75-bed recovery centre for Gujarat's Rajkot

Parliamentarians with Innovators for India (PIIndia), a COVID-19 action group cutting across political spectrum, is helping the state of Gujarat in its efforts to contain the pandemic with a fully equipped recovery centre.

The 75-bed facility set up in Rajkot is all set to be handed over to the district administration. Gujarat, with nearly 40,000 COVID cases, is one of the worst affected states in the country. The recovery centre, that can function as a temporary hospital, has been set up by PIIndia in association with Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute, Ankeleshwar; Anant National University, Ahmedabad; Habitat for Humanity and Caring Friends.

The hospital, set up at RMC Hall and Old Morbi Hall, is the first exclusive treatment COVID centre in Rajkot. The centre with all supporting equipment is meant for treatment of mild and moderate COVID-19 patients. It would be run by the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

All the 75 beds are equipped with hospital grade rubber mattress, pillow, visors, IV stand, medicine box, suction pump, infusion pump and other equipment for oxygen and oxygen cylinder.

“All over the world, we had seen that shortage of medical facilities posed a huge challenge as COVID cases peaked. Be it in Italy or Spain or New York, people panicked when they faced shortage of medical facilities. We would be able to contain the pandemic to a large extend if we have enough facilities. We, at PIIndia, are working towards that end in collaboration with other like-minded organisations,” Anil K Antony, one of the founders and national coordinator of PIIndia, told Onmanorama.

Anil, the convener of KPCC digital media cell, said the PIIndia was focussing in states like Gujarat and Delhi where the COVID situation is worse.

Faisal Patel, chairman of the advisory committee of Sardar Patel Hospital, thanked the Gujarat government for helping them set up the facility in Rajkot.

“We at Sardar Patel hospital thrive to help society with healthcare needs. For letting us help with this noble cause, I would like to especially thank the Gujarat government who have given us full support. We are hoping that through other donors and supporters we can aim to set up to 1,000 beds in Gujarat, Patel, a healthcare and technology entrepreneur with focus on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, said.

Patel, along with Anil Antony and Congress leader Priya Dutt, had worked together to crowd source over 75 tonnes of relief materials for the people affected by the devastating floods in 2018. Patel's NGO was also involved in the relief and rescue works during the Kashmir floods.

The idea of the low-cost COVID recovery centre was proposed by Miniya Chatterjee, a member of PIIndia and the head of Sustain Labs and faculty member of the school of design at Anant National University. Chatterjee, who used to be a part of the World Economic Forum and is a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, leads the University's initiative of designing cost equipment and medical devices.

Anant University had also worked with Milind Deora and BMC, Mumbai, to set to 700 quarantine beds in Mumbai.

PIIndia and Anant University had earlier joined hands to set up a 20-bed temporary hospital in Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Bio Sciences in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. PIIndia is also working on several low-cost technological solutions which are useful in the fight against COVID-19 in several states. The action group installed India’s first smart temperature screening gate in Kannur Airport with other partner institutions.

The team of PIIndia, Sardar Patel Hospital and Anant University is also working on a project for setting up multiple hundreds of beds in Delhi The works are expected to be completed soon.

A brainchild of Ganshyam Tiwari, the national spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party, is a national COVID-19 action group that consists of innovators, academics and MPs from various parties, including BJP, Congress, YSRCP, AAP, SP, BSP, TMC and DMK.