Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals has joined hands with several other companies to create 5000 rooms in India for isolation. Apollo said that it has launched 'Project Stay I' with 500 rooms in select hotels across the country in the first phase with light medical supervision for quarantine. The step has been taken to reduce the load on hospitals. 

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Joining hands with partners including HUL, SBI and OYO, Apollo Hospitals plans to scale this capacity to up to 5,000 rooms where patients can stay in isolation. 'Project Stay I' (Stay Isolated) is a part of its 'Project Kavach' announced last week by Apollo Hospitals Group Chairman Prathap C Reddy to fight the VOVID-19 pandemic.

"Apollo along with our partners commits to add up to 5,000 rooms where patients can stay in isolation. These will be 5,000 telemedicine medically supervised beds so that those who are in isolation stay in isolation and don't spread the infection to others," Apollo Hospitals Group Joint MD Sangita Reddy said.

Reddy said that isolation is not possible in many Indian homes where 5-7 people stay in the same room and where they share a bathroom. She added that Apollo realised that for those who can't afford, there was need to find capacity to cover the cost, and HUL, SBI and Deutsche Bank have come forward and said for those who cannot afford it they will cover the cost of care.

"Apollo Hospitals is not charging for the the telemedicine network or our medical supervision. Only the medicines will be charged at actual costs and the MRPs," Reddy said.

As part of phase 1, Apollo Hospitals is launching around 500 rooms in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi which will be scaled up to 5,000 rooms across other cities in successive phases on the basis pf further assessment, she added.

"Project Stay I will help to 'Break the chain' and is expected to help over 10,000 patients in a month and prevent over 50 lakh infections," Reddy said.

For the 'Project Stay I', initiative Apollo Hospitals has partnered with hospitality chains such as Lemon Tree Hotels, Ginger Hotels and OYO and online restaurant guide and food ordering platform Zomato.

Apart from them, leading entities such as HUL, State Bank of India and Deutsche Bank have also joined hands in the initiative.