Infosys Foundation helps set up Covid-19 hospital in Bengaluru

A building meant for a BBMP hospital near Russell Market in Shivajinagar has now become a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, thanks to the Infosys Foundation.

The foundation has spent Rs 10.25 crore to get the 170-bed hospital ready. The project, involving the import and shipping of medical equipment, took just 85 days to complete. The hospital is ready for inauguration.

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The Karnataka government had asked the foundation to set up a quarantine and isolation block, and it obliged.

Early planning

Sudha Murty, Chairperson of the foundation, started working on the project in the second week of March when India was slowly opening its eyes to the dangers of the virus.

“The pandemic was raging in other parts of the world, and I realised that we would need ventilators, oxygen cylinders and beds to treat our people,” she told Metrolife in an exclusive interview.

The pandemic hit the West hard, and a good four weeks before India got a taste of its wrath. There were many lessons to be learnt from how hospitals in the West were handling the emergency. “I didn’t want to waste any time,” she says. The foundation started work on the hospital in April when the lockdown was in full force. While it got the ventilators from Vishwaprasad Alva in Mysore and his company is called Skanray, the PPE kits were designed as per medical standards and were made by small scale industries in Bengaluru, Bhatkal and Udupi.

Here are some excerpts of the interview:

Q. How will you ensure the hospital functions well and your efforts don’t go in vain?

A. It is not in my hand. The government will run it. We have only provided the infrastructure. It was our vision to make sure that the poorest of the poor got good facilities and we didn’t run out of beds and ventilators. We will not oversee anything. With the pandemic, it is difficult for us to move about. We will request the government to ensure that nobody goes back for want of beds. That is our aim.

Q. What research did you do before making your donation?

A. There are two ways you have to look at this. One, as a doctor and the other as a patient. As a doctor, you have to have oxygen lines/cylinders, beds, good quality PPE kits and the infrastructure to look after a patient. A patient must have a good quality mask, gloves and rations. You have to think both ways.

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Q. We hear you have been creating safety awareness...

A. I have stocked dry ration kits in my house to be distributed to the needy. Each kit contains 15 tablets of zinc, multivitamins, half a litre of sanitiser, masks, gloves and rations. I got these distributed to vegetable vendors, home guards, auto drivers and even the lady who gives me rangoli. I stay in Jayanagar 4th T Block. We have covered a few places around this area. I have even sent some kits with my drivers to areas beyond Attibele.

Q. What is the philosophy that inspires your social work?

A. My grandfather always told me the story of a tree that stands all alone and suffers in the heat but gives shade to others. It bears flowers, fruits, and provides space for birds to nest. We should be like that tree and do as much as we can, without expecting anything in return.