With an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases and the alarming shortfall of hospital beds to accommodate infected patients, the Wipro Ltd owned by Azim Premji in a bid to provide assistance to the Maharashtra government, converted its IT facility in Pune into a 450-bed dedicated COVID-19 hospital.
In the first week of May, Wipro and the Maharashtra government had signed an MoU to repurpose its IT facility in Pune as a COVID hospital. According to a statement, the 450-bed hospital is set to be equipped to treat moderate cases and will include 12 beds to stabilize critical patients before shifting them to a tertiary care facility.
The isolated Covid-19 dedicated complex will also have 24 rooms to accommodate doctors and medical staff. In addition, Wipro also decided to provide physical infrastructure, medical furniture, and equipment besides appointing an administrator and skeletal support staff to help operationalize the hospital quickly with the required medical professionals.
The facility was created within a month of signing the MOU. State Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray inaugurated the hospital through online interaction on June 11.
‘Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray today inaugurated the well-equipped COVID Hospital set up by Wipro at Hinjewadi, Pune,’ tweeted the office of Maharashtra CM in Marathi along with some photos of the inauguration.
Claiming solidarity with the Maharashtra Government in its concentrated efforts to tackle the pandemic, Chairman of Wipro, Rishad Premji said ‘We are completely committed to supporting the country’s response to the pandemic and believe that we must all work together to deal with this crisis and minimize its human impact. We stand firmly with the Government of Maharashtra in its battle against Covid-19.’
The business tycoon’s efforts were hailed by the Chief Minister who said, ‘This humanitarian contribution by Wipro will further strengthen our medical infrastructure and benefit the medical fraternity who are at the forefront of our fight against the pandemic.’
In early April, Wipro Ltd, Wipro Enterprises Ltd, and Azim Premji Foundation, together with committed Rs 1,125 crore towards tackling the unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis. Instead of donating the amount to the PM Cares Fund, Wipro decided to help enable the dedicated medical and service fraternity in the frontline of the battle against the pandemic in different parts of the country.
At present, Maharashtra’s COVID cases stand at 101000 cases, with 47796 recoveries and a death accounting for 3717.
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