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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is a highly virulent disease associated with high mortality. Its outbreak into a pandemic has challenged the healthcare system of most countries around the world. A large number of infectious diseases hospitals are the need of hour to counteract this worrying infection. However, it is not possible to build such hospitals on a large scale within a short period of time; the only possibility is to convert existing healthcare facilities into COVID-19 facilities. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) has released guidelines for the preparation of COVID-19 hospitals, but execution at the ground level comes with many challenges. Here, we share our experience and the challenges we faced during the preparation of a tertiary healthcare centre into a COVID-19 centre, with the hope that it will help other institutions to prepare.