New Delhi: Sensing the urgency to control rapidly spreading Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) has converted its Ghatage Convention Centre located on Old Airport Road into a Covid-19 Care Center (CCC) and handed it over to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Friday. The facility having 160 beds with other supporting infrastructure like toilets, bathrooms etc. was created in just 16 days, says HAL's Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) R Madhavan. Initially, the facility would be utilized for the treatment of asymptomatic COVID-19 positive patients, says HAL's Director (HR) Alok Verma.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between HAL, represented by Ch. Venkateswara Rao, General Manager (CSR) and BBMP, represented by R Venkatachalapathy, Joint Commissioner, Mahadevapura Zone in the presence of senior government and HAL officials. Arrangements for doctors and paramedical staff and running of the facility would be taken care by BBMP.
As part of its fight against COVID-19 pandemic, HAL has already contributed Rs 26.25 crores to the PM CARES Fund (Rs 20 crores under CSR head with employees contributing another 6.25 crores). HAL produced 300 aerosol boxes have been handed over to various state governments like Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. These boxes are used in hospitals. The company has also distributed personal protective equipment, thousands of masks besides supporting migrant labour by providing them food and shelter. HAL has identified over 600 beds to be utilized as a quarantine facility at its seven locations – Lucknow, Kanpur, Korwa, Hyderabad, Nasik, Koraput and Bengaluru.
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