Delhi's 5-star Taj Mansingh Hotel to be turned into COVID-19 facility

New Delhi : Delhi's 5-Star Taj Mansingh Hotel will be turned into a COVID-19 facility to deal with the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the national capital. The administration issued orders on Tuesday under which the hotel will have the responsibility of providing rooms and food to the patients.

The patients staying there will have to make payments of treatment to Shri Ganga Ram hospital, which will then reimburse the hotel.

According to the government's decision, the room rent in a five-star hotel will be Rs 5,000 a day. Besides, a maximum of Rs 5,000 a day can be charged for medical services which will be all-inclusive except for oxygen. An extra Rs 2,000 can be charged per day for provision of the oxygen cylinders.

The government also announced that they will provide all protective gears and basic training to the hospital staff. If the hospital prefers, its doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff can stay in the hotel, but the hospital will have to bear the cost.

Other premium hotels like The Surya Hotel and Crowne Plaza too have also been drawn into COVID-19 duty. While Hotel Taj Mansingh will be attached to Sir Gangaram Hospital , The Surya hotel will be attached to Holy Family Hospital and Crowne Plaza hotel to Batra Hospital. Altogether, the Delhi government has attached a total of 40 hotels to different hospitals, which will lead to an addition of 4,000 beds

The decision to attach hotels with hospitals comes in light of continuously rising coronavirus cases and shortage of beds.

The government says, expects to have 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases by the end of July. By then, Delhi will need 80,000 beds of which it now has a small fraction.