Apollo Hospitals partners with Oyo, Zomato, SBI and others to offer 5,000 quarantine rooms to Coronavirus patients

• Apollo Hospitals Group launched a new initiative — Project Stay I — in partnership with Zomato, Oyo, Lemon Tree Hotels and others — to create quarantine facilities for Coronavirus patients.
  
• Under the initiative, Oyo, Lemon Tree and Ginger will provide as many as 5,000 rooms having medically supervised beds will be made available for patients to stay in isolation.
  
• SBI, HUL, and Deutsche Bank will take care of the cost of isolation of these patients. This includes the cost of lodging, medical care, WIFI.
  
• As much as 50% of the rooms in Oyo would be made available free of cost, for those who can not afford to pay for the services.

Apollo Hospitals Group, in partnership with the State Bank of India (SBI), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Deutsche Bank, OYO, Zomato and Lemon Tree Hotels launched a new initiative — Project Stay I — to create quarantine facilities for Coronavirus patients.

Under the initiative, Oyo, Lemon Tree and Ginger will provide 5,000 rooms with medically supervised beds for patients to stay in isolation. “It is a scalable method to use existing infrastructure to help contain the spread of Coronavirus. So those who are in isolation stay in isolation and don’t spread it to others,” said Sangeeta Reddy, joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals Group.

SBI, HUL, and Deutsche Bank will take care of cost of isolation. This includes the cost of lodging, medical care and WIFI.

“They are the three early contributors who have come forward to help those people who cannot afford the cost of isolation care. They will cover the cost. Only the medicines will be charged at actual cost,” Reddy added.

‘Every week, 50-100 rooms will be added’

Reddy said that, to start with, the project will offer approximately 500 beds available across the country — using these partner beds and every week, some 50-100 rooms will be added, depending on the demand.

“It is a technology enabled solution, people can have a streamlined process of booking, staying connected, sharing their medical details and escalate quickly in case they need further medical care,” she said.

The initiative will help hospitals treat severely infected patients. “The much needed beds in hospitals will not be blocked by people who only need isolation and don’t require advanced medical facilities.”

“This initiative will help us flatten the curve and save a lot of lives. Taking into account the large population of the country, the need for isolation is very very critical to ensure that the disease doesn’t spread,” said Kaushik Shaparia, CEO of Deutsche Bank India.

‘Project Stay I will reduce the load on the healthcare system’

The development comes as most of the people in India stay with their families and the whole purpose of self isolation is lost, even if they are at their homes.

“Many families in India have 4- 5 members and most of them share the same facilities and toilets, this fails the purpose of self-isolation if one the family members is at high risk of COVID-19 and is advised to do so. Project Stay I will not only reduce the load on the healthcare system by creating clean, comfortable isolation and quarantine facilities for individuals who have no need for active medical intervention but also provide a solution to such families,” Reddy said.

Almost half of the rooms in Oyo would be made available free of cost, for those who can not afford to pay for the services. These will be across locations like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

“Our partnership with Apollo Hospitals has been developed to ensure we utilise capacity where possible to create highly sanitised pay-per-use quarantine facilities under the guidance and supervision of medical professionals. This is an unprecedented situation which requires all of us to find new ways to work together and rise to the occasion. We are thankful for the support of SBI, HUL, our asset owners and frontline teams that are making this possible,” said Ritesh Agrawal, founder and CEO of OYO Rooms.

On the other hand, Lemon Tree Hotels will charge nearly ₹3,000 and Ginger will offer rooms at ₹2,000 per person. That includes food arrangements, which will be made available by Zomato.

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