The Bhowanipore facility, housed in the same building as the old Kolkata Police hospital-—will have 40 HDU beds. For the rest general beds, 150 will be set aside for police and110 will cater to other residents. The hospital, upgraded in 18 days, will be managed by the Medica group of hospitals and has been built on a PPP model, with support from Bandhan Bank and a donation from the German consulate. Besides commissioner Soumen Mitra, Bandhan bank CEO managing director Chandra Sekhar Ghosh and Medica Hospital chairman and MD Alok Roy were present at the inauguration.
Commissioner Mitra pointed out that the day Banerjee took oath as the chief minister for the third term on May 5, she visited the hospital and urged them to make it a Covid care facility on a PPP model. “We followed her instructions,” Mitra said. “I am pleased to see the inauguration of this additional Covid facility at the old Kolkata Police Hospital, financed with a contribution of almost 1.88 million Euros from the German government and the rest 2.9 million Euros from PPP initiatives. Germany’s solidarity thus reaches out to all parts of India affected by the pandemic. The partnership with Medica has proved to be effective during last year’s relief efforts,” said German Consul General Manfred Auster.