Indian Railways convert train coaches into isolation wards; Did Big B's idea strong arm Centre to pitch in?

New Delhi March 27: In a novel initiative to combat the epidemic, the Indian Railways has transformed some of the non-air-conditioned train coaches into the isolation ward for treating COVID-19 patients. The Railway Ministry on Saturday revealed a prototype of a non-AC train coach-turned-coronavirus isolation ward.

 

The middle berth on one side in each cabin has been removed while the lower berth there will act as the patient bed and all the other three berths opposite the patient berth have been removed. All ladders for climbing up the berths have also been removed. The coach has also provided 220-volt electrical points in each compartment for medical instruments.

This is probably after Bollywood's senior actor Amitabh Bachchan on March 25 shared on social media a reply from one of his fans who suggested to utilise the idle trains as isolation rooms. "One idea to be sent to all government authorities. All train services are at standstill. The train wagons are idle. Each has 20 rooms which can be used all over India. 3000 trains, so we have 60000 beds that can be used as isolation wards if needed. But in any case better than no hospitals", it read.

"If it gets approved, Railway is planning to develop the same in every zone. 10 coaches per week will be converted into an isolation ward as the number of coronavirus patients is increasing day by day. Then we will serve the hinterlands or whichever region needs the coaches," Northern Railway Spokesperson Deepak Kumar said.

 

"The bathrooms, aisle areas, and other areas have also been modified to prepare the isolation coach. In the aisle area, plastic curtains have been provided to separate patients from the medical personal area. Each coach would have 10 isolation wards. There are cabins for a doctor as well as other medical staff. Moreover, the coaches will also have facilities such as consultation rooms, medical stores, ICUs and pantry", the statement noted.

 

Further, while all passenger train services have been suspended since March 22, the government has prohibited the export of ventilators and has also asked two public sector undertakings to manufacture about 40,000 ventilator units to meet the demand in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The number of coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 900 in the country on Saturday.