Indian Railways is ramping up its effort to tackle the coronavirus crisis in India by a series of steps which include earmarking of hospital beds to meet the contingencies, recruitment of additional doctors & paramedics, equipping the existing Railway Hospitals to meet the needs for COVID-19, turning passenger coaches as isolation coaches and availability of PPEs and Ventilators, etc.
"With a total of 2546 posts of Doctors and 35153 paramedic staff including Nursing staff, Pharmacist and other category of staff, Railways is ready to face any challenge in the fight against COVID-19. In a new initiative, Railway Health Services have been made available to all Central Government Employees across the country now. The services include Primary, Secondary, and tertiary care in certain Specialties," a press release issued by the Ministry of Railways further stated.
Here are the steps taken by Indian Railways to fight against COVID-19:
1. Indian Railways is converting 5000 train coaches across the country to serve as quarantine/isolation facilities for 80000 beds for COVID-19.Action has been started by Zonal Railways on a war footing. The conversion of 3250 coaches has already been completed.
2. 5000 beds earmarked for treatment of COVID patients: Around 5,000 beds in 17 dedicated hospitals and 33 hospital blocks in Railway Hospitals have been identified for treatment of COVID-19 patients. These hospitals and blocks are being made ready for this purpose.
3. 11,000 quarantine beds have been made available across the Indian Railways establishments to fight COVID-19.
4. Availability of a sufficient number of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Ventilators etc. would be critical in fight against COVID-19. Action has been taken by Railway zones and production units to procure ventilators, PPEs and medical equipment to meet their needs to fight COVID-19.
5.Railways have already started In-house production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). It is striving to produce around 1000 PPEs per day which may be upscaled further.
6. Railway Health Services offered to all Central Government Employees: Railway Health Services have been made available to all Central Government Employees across the country on showing their Identity cards at the Railway Hospitals/Health Centres.