Srinagar: A 50-bed “portable” hospital, with ICU and oxygen facilities, has been set up in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district in view of a probable third Covid wave and it was inaugurated by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday.
The minister did a thorough inspection of the functioning of the “inflatable” medical enclosures, Picturetime, a mobile digital movie theatre company, which has set up the hospital at the Government Medical College here, said.
“Keeping in mind the Covid third wave scare, Picturetime is leaving no stone unturned and is doing its bit to help the existing medical infrastructure,” the company said in a statement.
Eight beds have intensive care unit (ICU) facility and 42 have oxygen facility, the statement said
In collaboration with the American Indian Foundation (AIF), the company set up three “hospital/units/enclosures” that include 50 beds, it said.
The “portable” hospital was installed in 14 days, the statement said.
The company has installed portable rapidly-deployed Covid field hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, it said, adding that more such hospitals would be set up at Jamshedpur, Betul, Baliya, Rajgad and Rajkot.
CEO, Picturetime, Sushil Chaudhary, said the fight against COVID-19 was never an easy one especially when “you have a project to be accomplished at Baramulla”.
“I am thankful to AIF for their faith in Picturetime Medical and it gives me immense pleasure to announce that we have delivered a 50 bed hospital here in Baramulla, inclusive of ICU and Oxygen beds,” he said.
The facility will be able to handle heavy snow and is also going to be centrally heated and will be ambient ready for any kind of weather or severe temperatures, Chaudhary said.
“Designing a portable structure to weather extremely conditions at Baramulla was not an easy task but we managed to do it and I am very confident that this will go a long way in terms of helping out the existing medical infrastructure,” he said.
CEO, AIF, Nishant Pandey said AIF is working with state and local governments and other civil society organisations to provide critical aid in this crisis to ensure sustainable relief and preparedness for future emergencies.
“Partnering with state governments to augment the health infrastructure is part of our core strategy for COVID-19 relief. We thank the government and Mastercard for providing us with an opportunity to serve the people in critical need of intervention through these 2,000 beds fitted with oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other medical supplies,” he said.
