Covid Care: Boeing plans to set up field hospitals in India (IANS Exclusive)

By Rohit VaidNew Delhi, May 15 : Aerospace major Boeing has tied-up with state governments along with NGOs to set up field hospitals in India to treat Covid patients.

Accordingly, the aerospace major has been in talks with five state governments to provide such facilities in their jurisdictions.

In the last few days, Boeing India has reached out to UP, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu state governments.The initiative as part of Boeings India Covid relief commitment envisages setting up of such facilities in each of five states which are facing the pandemic resurgence.

As part of the programme, the funding, land and utilities, facility, equipment, doctors as well as medicines will be provided through a partnership model by the joint effort of Boeing, the concerned state government and NGO partners, Doctors for You and Care USA.The state governments will provide the infrastructure and utilities while Doctors for You will provide the medical infrastructure and staff.

The first such facility is expected to come as soon as possible."We are in conversations with local and international relief organisations to deploy Boeings $10-million emergency assistance package to support Indias Covid-19 response," said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India.

"As part of that effort, were working with medical, government and public health experts across India to provide relief, including medical supplies and emergency health care to communities most impacted."Last month, Boeing announced a $10 million emergency assistance package to support Indias Covid-19 response.

At present, Boeing has 3,000 employees in India.The company develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defence products for customers in domestic civil and military sectors.

Lately, India has been heavily battered by record new daily increases in coronavirus infections, prompting lockdowns and restrictive measures.The exponential rise in new coronavirus cases in India has been termed as a humanitarian crisis.(Rohit Vaid can be contacted at rohit.v@ians.