Rajnath offers DRDO’s makeshift hospitals for city

Lucknow: In a major development, defence minister

Rajnath

Singh has offered services of defence officials to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for raising temporary hospitals in different parts of the city.

Rajnath Singh, who is MP from Lucknow, also spoke to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath twice, requesting him to provide space to defence authorities for raising makeshift hospitals. Lucknow is witnessing a surge in Covid cases and the city’s medical infrastructure is inadequate to face the medical crisis.

Talking to TOI, Diwakar Tripathi, lok sabha representative of Rajnath Singh, confirmed that the defence minister has requested the CM to provide banquet halls and open space in the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan or the BBD Academy to teams of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for raising the medical infrastructure on its own cost and provide beds and oxygen to patients.

Tripathi said that during the Defence Expo last year, the DRDO had signed an MOU with the UPEIDA to set up its own dedicated offices and infrastructure in Lucknow for the promotion of the state government’s defence corridor. “Since the DRDO already has a chain of command and military hospitals in and around the city as well as the expert medical manpower, it can immediately intervene provided the district administration gives it space for setting up makeshift hospitals.

Rajnath Singh has been constantly in touch with doctors, BJP workers, officers and leaders of various unions, offering them the help they need. “On an average, Rajnath has been calling at least 50 people every day since the last week,” Tripathi added.