From a distance, there is little to indicate the hectic pace of work under way on the hospital that is shaping up near the Gachibowli stadium.
It is a beehive of activity with workers focused on their work. From readying lifts of the multi-storied structure, unloading beds from vans near the entrance where iron beds are already stacked, getting measurement for the wooden panelling and steel railings correct, to a host of other jobs assigned to them, they seem to be racing against a deadline.
Indeed they are, as a Telangana Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation official at the site, who did not want to be identified, said April 15 was the deadline for handing over the facility to the Health department.
The task on hand is to create 1,500 isolation beds and 50-bed Intensive Care Units. The plan is to house the ICU on the ground floor and the wards, comprising the 1,500 beds, on the remaining floors of the 13-storied building which was constructed sometime in 2007 as a Sports Tower on a nine-acre land with space for expansion.
The government may consider the option of having a full-fledged hospital there, he added.
Since six floors were ready for use, the present work also involves readying the rest. The boundary wall at the site housing the proposed quarantine facility is also being raised. The facility had a separate entrance from the ISB Road, the official said.
One of the men in a team working on oxygen pipelines said it took about three hours to complete the work in an ICU room, adding they had four rooms to complete on Thursday.
A little distance away, a man from Kolkata engaged in cutting steel pipes for railings, said they had been working for about 15 days now on the ‘Corona Hospital’.
