Indian Railways to deploy Isolation Coaches at 215 Stations across 23 states

New Delhi, May 7: As the country is witnessing exponential growth in the cases of coronavirus infection, the government has decided to use the isolation coaches developed by IRTC to treat the patients. The government is going to deploy isolation coaches at 215 railway stations across the 23 states.

 

 

 

The plan is part of the preparation for a sudden spurt in coronavirus cases in the country. The plan from the Railway Ministry came days after PM Narendra Modi asked every government department to present a roadmap to help control the outbreak and its aftermath.

 

 

"Considering the possibility of an increase in cases of COVID- 19, a view is taken to utilize Railway coaches for COVID care center, the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, said.

 

These isolation coaches or 'COVID Care Centres' will be used for suspected or confirmed patients who are tagged as mild or very mild category cases, it further added.

 

Patients will be provided individual cabins and a maximum of two people may be put in one cabin if the situation arises, the ministry said.

 

The coaches will be expanded across all major hotspots in India and cover both the big cities as well as rural, far-off places. The list includes districts currently in the 'green' zones as well as a large number of 'orange' zones. The trains will be deployed at railway stations and will be attached to the nearest COVID hospitals, the government guidelines said.

 

The list has 21 stations from Maharashtra, 18 from West Bengal, 27 from Uttar Pradesh, 11 from Gujarat, two from Jammu and Kashmir, 14 from Madhya Pradesh, 15 from Bihar, seven from Jharkhand, 14 from Karnataka, three from Kerala, 13 from Assam, seven from Punjab, two from Telangana, nine from Odisha and 10 from Tamil Nadu.

 

The Railways will also provide all the necessary items in each coach, including oxygen cylinders, and take care of maintenance. Catering arrangements will be done by IRCTC, and the Railway Police Force will take care of the security aspect.

 

The guidelines say that in 85 of the stations, railway hospitals will have their medical staff while in the remaining 130 stations the respective state/UT government may place a request for placing the coaches only if they agree to provide staff and essential medicines at such stations, the health ministry guidelines said.

 

Meanwhile, currently, railway prepared 5,150 such coaches and there are plans afoot to convert some of them into 'hospitals on wheels' with facilities to treat all kinds of patients.