The Daryaganj facility has been linked with Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.
Amid spiralling coronavirus cases in the national capital, a banquet hall in central Delhi's Daryaganj has become the first such facility to be turned into a COVID care centre. The facility has been linked with Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital or LNJP, the biggest COVID-dedicated hospital in Delhi.
Shehnai banquet hall, the 100-bed facility, will have more than 50 healthcare workers and all services at the centre will be free of cost for the patients.
"All services will be free of cost. The cost will be borne by us. There will be twelve doctors, 24 nurses and 20 ward boys. An oxygen concentrator will be there for each bed. Oxygen cylinders are also there in case there is a need for more oxygen," said Dr Ravikant Singh, Founder of the NGO Doctors for You.
Mr Singh's NGO is collaborating with the Delhi government in managing the Daryaganj facility.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated the Daryaganj facility yesterday. Mr Kejriwal, accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia, also reviewed the preparations at the COVID care centre.
Delhi has planned to turn 80 banquet halls into COVID facilities which will lead to an addition of 11,000 beds.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi, the second worst hit in the country in terms of caseload and fatalities after Maharashtra, has crossed the 70,000-mark, according to government's data last evening.