 "ITBP's Covid-19 positive personnel to help in Delhi's largest corona ops")
About a dozen coronavirus affected Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and some other CAPFs personnel have been admitted to the Delhi's largest COVID care centre so that they can get cured and also help in better management of patient health services at the sprawling complex, officials said on Tuesday.
The ITBP, that runs the centre, also publicised telephone helpline numbers and an email id that can be used by coronavirus infected people to get admission at the newly created Sardar Patel centre located at the Radha Soami Beas campus in south Delhi's Chhattarpur area.
The officials said about a dozen COVID-19 positive ITBP and some other Central Armed Police Forces personnel have been admitted to this over 10,000 bed facility keeping in mind the two goals of not only getting them cured but also getting their help in being the 'eyes and ears' of the healthcare staff deployed there.
There are about 180 patients at the centre at present and as the facility is spread in a huge area and beds are laid out in a dormitory fashion, these force personnel have been asked to be vigilant about any emergency need of a patient at any hour of the day, a senior official said.
Not every time a health care staffer is present near the patient and hence the ITBP and other CAPFs personnel can intimate them in case a patient requires some help, he said.
The troops have been provided with the mobile numbers of shift incharges for making emergency calls, he added.
Multiple public address systems and wide LED screens have been installed at the facility for relaying audio-visual messages.
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"The CAPFs personnel including our staff admitted for treatment at the Sardar Patel COVID care centre in Delhi will not only get treated for the disease but also help the doctors in quickly addressing issues of other patients and aid in the overall management of health care services at the sprawling complex," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said.
ITBP healthcare specialists have also begun yoga exercises for the inmates of this centre from Tuesday.
"We have also publicised some helpline number and an email id for those COVID-19 patients who cannot maintain social distancing at home and they require help for getting admission at this COVID care centre," Pandey said.
The contact numbers are: 011- 26655547; 011- 26666949; 011- 26655549; 011- 26655548; 011-26655959; 011-26655969 and the control room number is 011- 26655530.
COVID-19 affected people, their families or friends can also email at spcccdelhi@itbp.gov.in.
The ITBP has over 560 coronavirus cases in its establishment out of which about 226 personnel are under treatment, while the rest have recovered.
In the Delhi-NCR, it has about 30 active cases of the disease.
Before this centre came up, the ITBP and other CAPFs personnel who reported positive for the pandemic were being admitted to various health facilities in the national capital including at the referral hospital of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in Greater Noida.
This centre has two segments -- a COVID Care Centre (CCC), where asymptomatic positive coronavirus cases will be treated and a Dedicated COVID Health Care (DCHC), which will treat symptomatic cases and have an oxygen support system.
As per the scheme, the CCC will have 90 per cent beds while the DCHC will have the rest 10 per cent beds.
The border guarding force had taken over the centre after being directed by the Union Home Ministry to act as the nodal agency.
A team of over 1,000 doctors, nurses and paramedic staff of the ITBP and other paramilitary forces have been earmarked to work at the facility.
About a thousand ancillary and security staff have been deployed in shifts at the facility. The centre also has about 75 ambulances. The total bed capacity at this centre can be ramped up to 10,200. The centre is 1,700 feet long and 700 feet wide -- roughly the size of 20 football fields -- and has 200 enclosures with 50 beds each.
Officials have said this is the largest COVID-19 care centre in the national capital as well as in the country.
The south Delhi district administration is providing administrative support to the centre apart from the volunteers of the Radha Soami Beas.