India’s largest IT service provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has set up Covid Care Centers across 11 cities in India. The company also has arrangements with hotels that have hospital tie-ups.
Employees and their families can avail emergency medical financial assistance, apart from the health insurance facilities offered, TCS spokesperson said in a statement.
TCS is also organising COVID testing camps in the offices, COVID-19 helpdesk to seek any assistance required, and 24x7 TCS Medical Hotline to reach doctors and TCS Cares services for counselling.
Other IT firms have already announced that they are setting up hospital beds in their campuses with oxygen and ventilator support to support employees and their families given the acute shortage the country is facing.
The government in an order dated April 27 said IT/ITeS firms in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) can extend up to 50-bed hospitals from the current 10 beds within the SEZ units, IT industry body NASSCOM pointed out. All these would help take the load of the public healthcare system amid the second wave.
India recorded 3.23 lakh news cases and 2,771 deaths on April 26 with the healthcare system crumbling in many states including New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and also Karnataka.
HCL tech, Infosys, Tech Mahindra set up hospital beds
During the earnings call on April 23, VV Apparao, Chief Human Resources Officer, HCL Tech, said: “Considering that in this second wave cases are much more than it was in first, many people are struggling for oxygen support or bed facilities in various hospitals. Currently, it is very serious in the National Capital Region (NCR) and experts are predicting that the other states will face similar severity.”
HCL Tech is setting up a 30-bed quarantine centre in NCR with oxygen and ambulance with ventilator facility.
In addition, the company is also expanding its COVID-19 helpline it was running with 15 doctors since 2020, to 25. “In the next week to 10 days’ time, we are further increasing it. We will be running with almost 55 doctors,” Apparao pointed out. It has also provided testing free of cost to employees
Its Bengaluru-based peer, Infosys, too, has set up employee COVID-19 care centres to support staff and their families who have contracted the virus and are in need of special medical care beyond home quarantine.
In a statement to Moneycontrol, the company said, “These centres would be managed by Ruby Hall hospital for Pune, and Manipal Hospitals for Bengaluru. Infosys is also in the process of setting up similar care centres across its major offices in India.”
On setting up COVID care centre for employees, Vivek Agarwal, President – BFSI, HLS and Corporate Development, Tech Mahindra said, during the earnings call on April 26: “Right now for the COVID care set up, we are thinking about 45-50 beds in our office premises, starting with Noida. We have tied up with large hospitals that will bring in the expertise and we will provide space and physical infrastructure. Our intention is to roll out at other large locations across the country to provide care to employees, families and larger societies.”
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