Noida twin towers demolition: Hospitals on high alert for health emergency

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], August 27 : The demolition of the Supertech twin towers is expected to create air pollution due to dust in Uttar Pradesh's Noida. In such a scenario the hospitals near sector 93A are fully prepared for any medical emergency.
"We at Jaypee Hospital sector 128 Noida are completely ready for tomorrow's demolition. We have dedicated eight emergency department beds and 12 ICU beds for tomorrow. Also, one ACLS ambulance equipped with all the necessary medications and equipment will be on standby for any mishappening," said a statement issued by the Jaypee Hospitals which are nearest to the area where the demolition will take place.
It further said that a group of doctors including emergency department physicians, critical care specialists, orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons will be available in the hospital to handle the situation.
"The administration of the hospital along with all other support staff will be available from 9 am to 6 pm to take over the responsibility. Apart from that adequate quantity of blood products have been kept in stock in our blood bank so that it can be used if required," the statement read.
The preparations at Felix Hospital are also on high alert as doctors, paramedics, and nurses all will be fully prepared for any emergency situation. The hospital is just 4 kms away from the demolition spot.
"The general ward is ready on the 12th floor of the hospital for an emergency, while ICU beds have been fully prepared on the seventh floor. There will be arrangements of a total of 50 beds in the hospitals that includes emergency wards, ICU, NICU, cardiac wards and general wards," said Dr DK Gupta, Chairman of Felix Hospital.
"Our doctors will be available on call also and we have cancelled all leaves of our staff for tomorrow. We have issued a 24X7 emergency helpline number also for ambulance service," he said.
Dr Gupta further said that if a person gets breathings issues, SPO2 reduces less than 92 per cent, chest pain, redness in eyes, skin issues, headaches, fluctuating blood sugar levels then they must contact a doctor.
The Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida is fully prepared to tackle the medical emergency if required after the demolition of the twin towers.
"We haven't received any instructions from the government separately but we are fully prepared. I hope everything goes well, the high-risk patients, asthma patients, post-COVID patients, one shouldn't be very excited and it's better to be indoor," said Dr Rakesh Kumar Gupta, Director of GIMS.
Speaking on the impact of the demolition, he said, "How long the effect will remain it's difficult to say, but it all depends on environmental conditions as well."
The demolition in Noida is scheduled to take place at 2.30 pm on Sunday.
The demolition of the Apex (32 storeys) and Ceyane (29 storeys) towers would leave behind approximately 35,000 cubic metres of debris that would take at least three months to be cleared.
The go-ahead for demolishing the twin towers with explosives was given by the Supreme Court. The exercise was earlier supposed to start on August 21 but the court accepted the Noida Authority's request and extended its date of demolition to August 28.
The twin towers are set to be razed over grave violations of building norms. The top court had said that it was a result of "nefarious complicity" between the Noida Authority and Supertech and ordered that the company shall carry out the demolition at its own expense under the supervision of the Noida Authority and an expert body like the Central Building Research Institute.
The order had come on a batch of petitions filed by homebuyers for and against the April 11, 2014 verdict of the Allahabad High Court which had ordered razing of the two buildings within four months and the refund of money to apartment buyers.
The Supreme Court has said that the date of demolition may be confirmed as August 28, with a "bandwidth of seven days" between August 29 to September 4, to take into account any marginal delay on account of technical reasons or weather conditions.