Coronavirus pandemic: Amid rising fears of third wave, Medanta to set up COVID Care Centre at Delhi Airport

COVID-19: While the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, airports are a key point of entry and exit as restricted domestic and international travel is allowed in India. This is especially true for the Delhi airport, which is among the busiest airports in the country and is therefore a high-risk zone for employees in particular. Accordingly, looking at the severity of the situation, the Delhi International Airport Limited or DIAL – which is a consortium of GMR, Airports Authority of India and Fraport and looks after the operations and maintenance of the Delhi airport – has signed an agreement with Medanta Hospital in order to set up a COVID Care Centre at the airport. The centre would be established at Terminal 2 of the Delhi airport, and it is expected to become functional in early September.

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The decision has been taken in view of the threats of a third wave of the virus, and it would aim to provide the employees and their family members (including children) with the necessary facilities in case any of them is feared to have been impacted by the infection.

As per a statement issued by airport management, the centre would have state-of-the-art facilities which would allow for isolation, clinical treatment, and clinical support to asymptomatic, mild and mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 infection among the employees of GMR or their family members until they can either be transferred to a hospital or discharged to go back home.

The agreement requires DIAL to look after the day-to-day functioning of the COVID Care Centre, and all the medical support to this facility would be provided by Medanta Hospital. Medanta would be looking at the supervision of the medical personnel, the protocols regarding treatments, the support for microbiology, radiology and pathology, care for patients, admission of patients that are critically ill at the Medanta facility and emergency evacuation among others.

Moreover, 15 paediatric High Dependency Unit or HDU beds, 18 HDU beds for adults, as well as 52 isolation beds have been allocated for the facility that is being set up at the Delhi airport. Apart from this, arrangements of 85 oxygen concentrators have also been made here. Cameras based on AI to monitor activities inside the centre have also been fitted here along with all of the other medical equipment.