Patiala, May 12 (IANS): A Western Command Covid Hospital has been made operational for civilians on Wednesday inside the complex of Rajindra Hospital here, with an elaborate plan for division of responsibilities between the Indian Army and the civil and hospital administrations.

The hospital has been dedicated to the people in the presence of SAD MP Preneet Kaur and Major General Mohit Malhotra, General Officer Commanding, Airawat Division.

This is the third such facility that has been established by the Army's Western Command in conjunction with the civil administration for augmenting the medical infrastructure to fight the raging Covid pandemic in the region.

Earlier, a 100-bed hospital was inaugurated on May 10 at the International Students Hostel of Panjab University in Chandigarh and another at Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College in Faridabad.

A team of doctors and healthcare workers of the Indian Army have commenced operations on the second floor of the newly-built Super Specialty Building of Rajindra Hospital.

The staff under the medical officers of the Indian Army are working in coordination with the hospital authorities to ensure that quality treatment is provided to the Covid-affected patients, the Western Command said in a statement.

The services being rendered under the aegis of Western Command will enhance the state government's effort to fight the pandemic and also provide an opportunity to the Army to contribute towards the national cause of containing the spread of the virus so as to eventually make the country Covid free, it said.