Reliance sets up 100-bed centre for COVID-19 patients at Mumbai hospital

Mumbai, March 23, 2020

The Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital, in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has set up a dedicated 100-bed centre at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai for patients who test positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

A press release from the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said this was part of a multi-pronged prevention, mitigation and ongoing strategy initiated by the company as part of the nationwide effort to contain and combat the global pandemic.

"Reliance Industries Ltd. has responded to its call-of-duty to be at the service of the nation 24x7 in our collective fight against Covid-19," it said.

"This approach can be ramped up further to scale as required by the nation," it said.

The release said RIL had deployed the combined strengths of Reliance Foundation, Reliance Retail, Jio, Reliance Life Sciences, Reliance Industries, and all the 6,00,000 members of the Reliance Family on this action plan against COVID-19.

India's first dedicated COVID-19 hospital, set up in a shot span of just two weeks, is a joint project of Reliance Foundation and RIL Hospitals.

The centre is fully funded by Reliance Foundation and includes a negative pressure room that helps in preventing cross contamination and helps control infection. All beds are equipped with the required infrastructure, bio medical equipment such as ventilators, pacemakers, dialysis machine and patient monitoring devices.

Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital, a world-class healthcare institution in Mumbai, has also offered to set up special medical facilities to quarantine travellers from notified countries and suspected cases identified through contact tracing. This will quickly augment additional facilities for isolation and treatment of infected patients, the release said.

In another initiative, Reliance Foundation will provide free meals to people across various cities in partnership with NGOs to offer necessary livelihood relief in the current crisis situation.

RIL has built a fully-equipped isolation facility in Lodhivali, Maharashtra and handed it over to the district authorities.

Reliance Life Sciences is importing additional test kits and consumables for effective testing. Its doctors and researchers are also working overtime to find a cure for the deadly virus, the release said.

According to it, RIL is enhancing its production capacities to produce 100,000 face-masks per day and a large number of personal protective equipments (PPEs), such as suits and garments, for health-workers to equip them further to fight the coronavirus challenge.

RIL also announced an initial support of Rs. 5 crore to Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

"It is imperative in these times for the people of India to remain connected with friends, families, colleagues, businesses, and communities while maintaining social distance," the release said.

"To ensure India remains connected, Reliance Jio, RIL's telecom subsidiary, has introduced the #CoronaHaaregaIndiaJeetega initiative.

"This initiative will enable Indian citizens to stay safe while staying connected and productive, allowing for remote working, remote learning, remote engagement and remote care," it said.

"Jio is combining its digital capabilities with Microsoft Teams, the unified communication and collaboration hub for teamwork in Office 365, to enable individuals, students, educational and healthcare institutions to continue their professional lives while still practicing social distancing," it said.

Other initiatives include Symptom Checker; MyGov Corona Helpdesk powered by Jio Haptik developed for the Government free of cost and updated on real time; Medical consultation at home by connecting with physicians and doctors in real-time; Learn from Home to enable students and teachers to go beyond video calling to scheduling classroom sessions, document and screen sharing and informal chat channels for real-time doubt clarification; Work from Home too enable consumers to hold remote audio and video meetings, have collaborative conversations and share files; and Broadband At Home that will enable access to world-class and dependable Internet services.

For all existing JioFiber subscribers, Jio will provide double data across all plans, the release said.

Jio will provide double-data across its 4G data add-on vouchers. It will also bundle non-Jio voice calling minutes in these vouchers at no additional cost, to meet the increased need of these services.

The release also said RIL would provide free fuel for all Emergency Service vehicles used to transport Covid-19 patients (service is provided only for vehicle used for Covid-19 patients and as per list provided by Government agencies, to ensure efficient impact and withdrawal post end of pandemic) to and from quarantine and isolation facilities.

All 736 grocery stores of Reliance Retail across the country will ensure sufficient supply of essentials, including staples, fruits and vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals and other items of daily use, so that citizens need not stock up, it said.

Grocery stores will remain open longer -- from 7 am to 11 pm -- wherever possible. The stores will activate order and pick-up from storefront so that the consumers and store staff are not exposed. It will also ensure there are lesser number of people in the store. They will also activate ordering from home and delivery for senior citizens.

The stores will also ply vehicles with essential items in certain areas for sale to customers at their door steps during complete lockdown. The stores will also provide hygiene products and sanitizers at Government announced rates.

"RIL will continue to pay contract and temporary workers, even if work has halted due to this crisis. For those earning below Rs. 30,000 per month, salaries will be paid twice a month to protect their cashflow and mitigate any overwhelming financial burden.

"RIL has moved most of its employees to its Work-From-Home platform except for those who are manning critical roles in maintaining the Jio network for nearly 40 crore customers and for providing uninterrupted supply of fuel, grocery and other essential items of daily consumption," the release added.

NNN