Coming up with an action plan on COVID-19 in India, Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Mukesh Ambani announced the setting up of the country’s first hospital dedicated to treat coronavirus patients.
— Rishikesh Kumar (@rishhikesh) March 23, 2020
Established in Mumbai with the help of the civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, it is a “first-of-its-kind" centre in India and was built in two weeks. It is located within the campus of Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai and has 100 beds and a negative pressure room to prevent cross contamination.
“All beds are equipped with the required infrastructure, bio medical equipment such as ventilators, pacemakers, dialysis machine and patient monitoring devices”, the statement released by RIL said.
The action plan further includes special medical facilities to quarantine travellers, free meals for people across various cities in partnership with NGOs, a fully-equipped isolation facility, and importing additional test kits and consumables for effective testing by Reliance Life Sciences, a biotechnology initiative by RIL.
Other businessmen, such as Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, have also expressed willingness to help, such as by offering its resorts as temporary care facilities and ensuring that ventilators do not become scarce.
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 22, 2020
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) March 22, 2020
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs announced on Monday a relief to the country's industries and said that spending to tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic would be eligible as corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity.
"In view of the spread of novel Corona Virus in India, its declaration as pandemic by the WHO, and decision of Government of India to treat this as notified disaster, it is hereby clarified that spending of CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible for CSR activity", the statement issued by the ministry reads.
India was the first country in the world that made it mandatory for companies to spend at least two percent of their average net profit from the last three years on CSR activities.
Currently, India has 415 active cases of coronavirus and has recorded seven deaths so far. After international flights, the government has also announced a temporary suspension of all domestic flights from midnight onwards.
