Delhi to use school auditoriums to add beds

As a part of its plan to augment the bed count in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, the Delhi government will make use of its school auditoriums.

As a part of its plan to augment the bed count in the face of the Covid-19 crisis, the Delhi government will make use of its school auditoriums.

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Earlier this month, the government had asked its schools to submit data on whether they have auditoriums or not. They were also asked to provide details such as existing air conditioning facilities, whether the auditorium had fixed chairs, among other things.

On Wednesday, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that the government planned to use auditoriums in nearly 242 schools to set up beds for Covid-19 patients.

There are a total of 8,872 isolation beds in the city’s hospitals. Sisodia had earlier estimated that Delhi will need at least 15,000 beds by June-end and 80,000 by the end of July. The government also plans to use 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls as makeshift hospitals, a move that is expected to add over 15,800 beds.

“This is not an ideal scenario but if the need arises, we have to work together to fight the pandemic and provide the required space to accommodate presidents,” said the principal of a government school in south Delhi, requesting anonymity.

Sisodia requested the Union minister to cancel the remaining CBSE board exams for classes 10 and 12 slated in July and promote all students based on their internal assessment citing rising cases of Covid-19 in the national capital.

“Holding exams in the same building where there are hundreds of Covid-19 patients will be a serious risk,” the Delhi education minister had written in a letter to Union human resource minister on Wednesday.

So far, around 251 government schools in Delhi are currently being used as dry ration distribution centres, 33 schools have been converted into hunger relief centres, 39 as shelter homes, 10 as migrant camps and another 10 as quarantine centres.