NEW DELHI: When the healthcare infrastructure got overwhelmed during the deadly second wave of the pandemic, a large number of good Samaritans, community members and organisations came forward to help brave the crisis. Albeit late, the expansion of beds in hospitals has taken place, along with a large number of community and RWA-run Covid care centres in community halls and schools over the last one month.

A government report shows that currently 32 such Covid centres with a cumulative capacity of 630 beds are operational in Delhi. So far, 178 patients have been treated and discharged at these centres, while 122 patients are still receiving healthcare.

Dr Sameer Pandit, who helps out at three such centres at DDA community centre Dwarka and SDMC primary schools in Kakrola and Palam, said the units were being run with the help of NGOs and donations. “One advantage of these centres is that patients can get treatment in their own locality. Only mild patients with oxygen saturation level above 90 are treated here. In case the oxygen levels drop, they are transferred to another healthcare facility,” he added.

Out of 630 beds, 163 are equipped with oxygen cylinders and concentrators. The largest number of such centres exists in South district with 110 beds, followed by New Delhi district with 70 beds and South East and South West districts with 67 and 65 beds, respectively. North East district has the lowest number of such facilities with two centres being run in municipal corporation buildings by the local gurdwara committee, Sewa Bharati and NGO Sofia, which are facing a shortage of doctors.

One of the largest centres is located in government higher secondary school in Pushp Vihar Sector 3 where Western Avenue Residents’ Welfare Association (WARWA), Sainik Farm has set up an 80-bed facility. Currently, 56 patients are admitted there.

Ashim Badhwar from WARWA said this was one of the first RWA-run isolation centres set up in June 2020. “Around 30 patients will be discharged in a couple of days. We have kept a 1:5 oxygen bed and concentrator ratio with beds. Two doctors are available 24×7 for online consultation and a ward boy and nurse are present along with monitoring equipment for BP, sugar and oxygen levels. A coordinator remains in touch with the area SDM and hospitals in case anyone needs to be shifted out,” he added.

In East district, three centres with 25 beds have been made operational in the community hall of RWA Beverly Hills, DJB office and a site run by Ahimsa Jain Dharmarth Sansthan. However, patients are yet to avail of the benefits of these units due to oxygen procurement issues. In North East district, two Covid care centres were not made operational as the RWAs couldn’t arrange for doctors and paramedics. Recently, DDA had relaxed the norms to book its community halls for long periods to run such facilities.