Reliance sets up India's 1st dedicated Covid-19 hospital, to pay contract workers wages

Reliance Industries on Monday said it will pay contract and temporary workers wages even in case of no work due to coronavirus outbreak, set up India's first dedicated Covid-19 hospital in Mumbai, ramp up face-mask production capacity and provide free meals and fuel to deal with the crisis.

In a raft of measures to deal with the pandemic, India's largest company in a statement said it has "initiated a multi-pronged prevention, mitigation, and ongoing support strategy" which can be ramped up further to scale as required.

Detailing the measures, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate said it has set up "India's first dedicated Covid-19 hospital".

"In a short time-span of just two weeks, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has set up a dedicated 100-bedded centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai for patients who test positive for Covid-19.

"This first-of-its-kind-in-India centre is fully funded by Reliance Foundation and includes a negative pressure room that helps in preventing cross-contamination and helps control infection. All beds are equipped with the required infrastructure, biomedical equipment such as ventilators, pacemakers, dialysis machine and patient monitoring devices," it said.

Also, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai has also offered to set up special medical facilities to quarantine travellers from notified countries and suspected cases identified through contact tracing. "This will quickly augment additional facilities for isolation and treatment of infected patients."
The firm said it "will continue to pay contract and temporary workers, even if work has halted due to this crisis."
For its employees earning below Rs 30,000 per month, salaries will be paid twice a month to protect their cashflow, the statement said. "Reliance has moved most of its employees to its Work-From-Home platform except for those who are manning critical roles in maintaining the Jio (telecom) network for nearly 40 crore customers and for providing an uninterrupted supply of fuel, grocery and other essential items of daily consumption."
On its retail business, the company said: "all the 736 grocery stores of Reliance Retail across the country will ensure sufficient supply of essentials, including staples, fruits and vegetables, bread, breakfast cereals and other items of daily use so that citizens need not stock up."
Its broadband service, JioFiber will provide 10 Mbps of connectivity, wherever geographically feasible, without any service charges, for the lockdown period. "Jio will also provide home gateway routers with a minimum refundable deposit."