The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) said it would close its 10,000-bed Covid-19 care centre in South Delhi, Chhatarpur. It is called Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre.
“Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre and Hospital in Chhatarpur, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, will be closed within a week after the discharge of patients currently admitted. There won’t be any new patients admitted. Hospitals in the city are prepared to handle the current numbers,” said ITBP General Director SS Deswal.
It was opened on July 5, 2020, acting as a rehabilitation centre for those who are asymptomatic but can not afford home isolation.
The centre began as an emergency measure by the ITBP in July last year when the country was reeling under the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as was the national capital. Patients referred by 11 hospitals in Delhi, including AIIMS, Safdarjung, Medanta and Max Hospital, have been admitted to the world’s largest Covid-19 case centre.
The ITBP announced in November that it would raise the size of the Covid-19 beds from 2,000 to 3,000. These new beds have been fitted with a sufficient supply of oxygen for medical purposes. The centre also has 75 dedicated ambulances.
Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre is roughly the size of 20 football fields
At the height of the outbreak, the number of patients treated at the centre was 2,000. By December, however, as the number of Covid-19 patients had decreased in the national capital, the number of patients at the Sardar Patel centre had also decreased; the number of patients at the centre had decreased to 59 in the same month.
The Sardar Patel Covid Care Center is 1,700 feet long, 700 feet wide-around the size of 20 soccer fields-and has 200 enclosures with 50 beds each.
The Delhi Government offered administrative help, but the ITBP controlled the centre. Volunteers from the religious sect of Radha Soami Beas are also helping in their day-to-day functioning.