Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that PM CARES Trust Fund has decided to allocate funds to establish 500-bed makeshift hospitals for treating Covid-19 patients in Patna and Muzaffarpur.
PM-CARES Fund Trust has decided to allocate funds for fight against COVID-19 by way of establishment of 500-bed COVID-19 Makeshift Hospitals at Patna & Muzaffarpur, Bihar by DRDO. This will go a long way in improving COVID care in Bihar. pic.twitter.com/AAPEIDDcRc
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 24, 2020
The hospital at Bihta, Patna will be inaugurated today. The hospital in Muzaffarpur will be inaugurated soon, PM Modi wrote in a tweet.
These hospitals have 125 ICU beds with ventilators and 375 normal beds each. Each bed also has oxygen supply. The doctors and paramedical staff will be provided by the Armed Forces Medical Services. pic.twitter.com/FYnISoXae8
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 24, 2020
He informed that each hospital would have 125 ICU beds with ventilators and 375 normal beds. Every bed will have oxygen supply, and the Armed Forces Medical Services will provide doctors and paramedical staff for these hospitals.
PM CARES Fund
PM CARES Fund was set up earlier this year in wake of Chinese Coronavirus outbreak. In June it was reported that 14,000 ventilators will be delivered to states across India using PM CARES fund soon. Earlier, the government had earmarked Rs 2,000 crore from the fund to provide 50,000 ventilators to states and union territories, which would double the existing capacity of ventilators.
The public charitable trust with the name ‘Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund’ (PM CARES Fund)’ will be a dedicated national fund with the objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the current Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister is the Chairman of this trust, and its members include Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister.