Bommanahalli federation gets nod for first-ever RWA Covid-19 Care Centre

Amid increasing Covid-19 cases and a shortage of beds in hospitals, a federation of residents’ association in Bengaluru has been permitted to create its own Covid Care Centre (CCC).

The Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) in Bommanahalli zone has 225 member apartments with 42,383 families. Its General Secretary Vikram Rai approached Rajendra Kataria, the official in-charge of public Covid Care Centres such as BIEC and Haj Bhavan, with the request to allow private buildings to run their own care centres.

“This way, we can reduce the load on the system and people don’t have to run around,” Rai told DH. Kataria encouraged the idea. The BAF then took the idea to private hospitals. “Medium- and large-size apartments have party halls and club areas that could potentially become CCCs. Hospitals were a little hesitant since they would not like to commit human resources, which is stretched to the limits now," Rai said.

Most hospitals were willing to offer home isolation packages and tied up with hotels for institutional quarantine, but found it dicey to set up a centre with staff. “They said if we run the centres, they could give remote consultation. They were also unsure about government approval and compliance."

But recently, the guidelines for RWAs to run CCCs was released. “The BBMP commissioner and health commissioner spoke to us and has given a thumbs-up to the idea,” Rai said. “They said we are free to tie up with hospitals and infrastructure providers. We expect to have inputs from major healthcare providers.”

While it is difficult to predict the precise numbers, Rai said many medium- and large-size apartments are interested in setting up their CCCs. “The Bangalore Apartments’ Federation has 800 members across the city. Some service providers have given us rental models. One of our members in Whitefield has made a basic (CCC) setup for Rs 1 lakh with cots, and oxygen concentrators, among others. We are receiving only commercial models now and the apartments are free to take it up themselves,” Rai said.

Residents will fund the CCCs through their associations as an infrastructural investment for three months.