SBI to set up hospitals for Covid patients
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New Delhi As part of the CSR initiative, the country's largest lender State Bank of India has decided to set up makeshift hospitals with ICU facilities for Covid-19 patients in some of the worst affected States.
The bank has already earmarked Rs 30 crore and is engaging with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and hospital management for setting up medical facilities on an emergency basis for the treatment of Covid-19 patients, SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said. He said the bank intends to put in place 1,000 beds with 50 ICU facilities in the States that are the worst affected. So, he said, it could be 120 beds at some places, while 150 at others with adequate healthcare facilities, depending on a hospital's capacity to scale up.
It is to be noted that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs last week permitted makeshift hospitals and temporary Covid care facilities to be treated as an eligible Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity.
