In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, IIT Gandhinagar has been contributing with many teams of faculty and students working on related projects, the institute recently published a white paper to convey its experience with establishing and operating an on-campus Covid-19 care facility — an isolation centre with medical services — in the hopes of inspiring other educational institutions to follow suit.
The IIT Gandhinagar facility was established on campus to deal with the increase in cases on premise as well as in the surrounding community. Since there was no guiding manual or standardized modus operandi, the whole process was a learning opportunity for the institute, it also turned its newly constructed guest house into a COVID treatment center, which helped hundreds of infected members of the community.
The initiative has also helped to “relieve the additional pressures the Covid positive patients would have otherwise put on Ahmedabad’s and Gandhinagar’s health infrastructure,” according to the institute. The institute had a total of 248 active COVID-19 cases at its height in April 2021, with 162 from the campus and the rest from off-campus students, employees, and outsourced workers.
IITGN’s Covid Care Facility offered difficult-to-reach health facilities including oxygen contractors, respirators, and essential health services before the patient needed to be admitted to the hospital. The facility at IITGN was critical in isolating the COVID-positive patient from his relatives, roommates, and neighbors, all of whom could be infected, thereby limiting the virus’s spread.
