IIT Gandhinagar releases white paper to help other institutions in setting up in-house Covid care facilities

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar has come out with a white paper to help educational and other institutions establish in-house Covid care facilities to tackle the surge in cases.
According to officials, the Covid-19 care facility was set up by the institute in the campus last month to tackle the rising number of cases inside the premises and among the local community amid the second wave of the pandemic.
"We are experiencing an unprecedented global health crisis that demands unconventional and urgent action to support and care for each other. At our institute, we did not have the benefit of a guiding document or a Standard Operating Procedure that we could follow at the start. We evolved with every challenge and learnt lessons during the process," said Sudhir Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar.
"The white paper has been prepared with the hope that our experience and lessons can inform other institutions and organisations interested in developing similar facilities to support their communities during the pandemic," he added.
The Union Health Ministry has advocated for the creation of 30-bed Covid care centres in schools, community halls, panchayat buildings, educational institutions, housing societies and other communities.
"IITGN converted its newly-built guest house to a Covid care facility that served not only to provide relief to hundreds of infected members of the community but contributed in a small way to relieving the added burdens these Covid positive patients would have otherwise imposed on Ahmedabad's and Gandhinagar's health infrastructure.
“More than 240 Covid patients were served at the facility from 1st April 2021 to 15th May 2021 including a peak of 95 in mid-April 2021. All but one patient had been released from the facility (as on 18th May 2021)," Jain said.
At its peak during April 2021, IIT Gandhinagar had a total of 248 active Covid-19 cases, of which 162 were on campus and the remaining among off-campus students, staff, outsourced workers, and their families, the director further said.