New Delhi, March 26: Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest integrated healthcare chain, today announced the launch of a comprehensive and integrated response plan to take the battle to COVID-19. The announcement was made at a virtual media conference held online with the top management from Chennai and Hyderabad addressing the press across the country. Titled ‘Project Kavach’, which means ‘shield’, the response plan is a comprehensive approach that encompasses all aspects from information, screening and assessment, testing, to readying the infrastructure for quarantine and treatment. The culmination of a month of preparation, Project Kavach will bring together all the resources of Apollo Hospitals to fight for the people of the country against this pandemic.

 Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “We are fighting a war not just for this generation but also for the generations to come. The novel coronavirus pandemic knows no borders, makes no distinction between religion, caste, creed, colour or social status. It will require for all of us to come together, young and old as one to ‘Break the Chain’. The entire Apollo Hospitals family is ready to go beyond the call of duty and work with the Government to emerging victorious in this battle. Project Kavach will augment the Government’s initiatives to address the COVID-19 pandemic and is part of our pledge to partner with the Government and be at the frontlines in this critical battle.”

The 3800 Apollo pharmacies across 18 states will be pressed into action to serve people with all the medication, consumables and supplements as required. Stocks have been doubled, prices will be strictly monitored and controlled, and home delivery capability has been enhanced. It is estimated that the capacity can be ramped up from the 500,000 people served on a daily basis to 1 million if required.

In locations such as Andhra Pradesh, Bhubaneshwar where the government has set aside separate hospitals for COVID care, Apollo is assisting them by managing a certain number of beds within large government hospitals.

 The group is also preparing for the next stage of community transmission of the virus. She further added, “While we hope that community transmission does not take place on a large scale, we need to be prepared for the eventuality.  This stage will see a constant requirement of highly specialized treatment for the critically ill. Apollo Hospitals with its network of 70 hospitals also has the largest number of isolation and ICU facilities in the private sector. There will be over 250 beds which can be enhanced to 500 beds, created only to treat the critically ill at any given time. We expect to give advanced care to over 2000 patients a month.”

To prepare for this, Apollo Hospitals has undertaken training of all our personnel on the latest treatment protocols adequate personnel have been pressed into service with provision for quarantine quarters to house those staff separately, medicines, consumables, hospital supplies, negative pressure rooms, ventilator and additional medical equipment has been procured or reserved with vendors to meet any increase in demand. We have also ensured stocking of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) for all our staff.