The Covid pandemic was at its peak in March 2020, and Kasargod, a northern Kerala district bordering Karnataka was grappling with treatment facilities, as historically, the citizens here depended on facilities in the neighbouring state for treatment.
State borders were being closed as part of Covid restrictions and at one point, mounds of mud were even dumped on the road to stop Covid patients, persons with symptoms from Kasargod from entering Karnataka. On March 28, 2020 Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts pledged Rs 500 crore worth of aid to overcome the Covid situation in the country.
#WATCH | Mumbai, Maharashtra: Mortal remains of veteran industrialist Ratan Tata brought to Worli crematorium for his last rites, which will be carried out with full state honour. pic.twitter.com/8lB2F2AmFH
— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2024
Soon after, the Kerala government announced Tata group would build a hospital in Thekkil village, Kasaragod to treat Covid patients. The Kerala government allotted 5.5 acres of land, belonging to a private institution, for setting up the hospital worth Rs 60 crore. Tata Group built the state-of-the-art facility in 128 shipping containers, brought from different parts of the country.
Narrating the journey, Rahul Shah, chief operating officer, Urban Infrastructure, Tata Projects said in a blog of Tata group, “We worked with Tata Steel, Voltas and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) to design modular prefabricated units, which could be assembled at the site into hospital wards compliant with government guidelines for Covid-19 patients. We realised that if we could manufacture these units in multiple workshops, transport them to Kasaragod and fit them in, we could set up a hospital very quickly.”
Shah added while the modular units were being manufactured, they also readied the five-acre land with other basic amenities.
ALSO READ: Ratan Tata’s 12 closest family members
In a release, Tata Group said, "Tata Steel was commissioned to manufacture 128 ready-to-use units, including light and sanitary fittings, for Kasaragod. This included 80 quarantine rooms with 400 beds, 24 isolation rooms with 96 beds, two observation rooms with 10 beds, and one resuscitation room with five beds. The units were also used to set up 10 rooms, totalling 40 beds, for nurses and doctors to rest; a waiting room; a canteen; a pharmacy; and ECG, x-ray and ultrasound rooms."
ALSO READ: How it took just Re 1 for PM Narendra Modi to build his deep bond with Tata
To meet the quick deadline, the units were manufactured across multiple sites – Kolkata, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Faridabad, it said.
Working within a short span of time, Tata Trusts handed over keys for the facility to the Kerala government on September 10 and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated it. According to reports, close to 5,000 patients were treated at the facility.
