NEW DELHI: The railway ministry on Friday advised people with pre-existing health conditions to avoid travelling in ‘Shramik’ special
trains being run to transport stranded
migrants back to their home States.
This comes after several deaths have been reported recently among people on board these trains which began operating 1st May onwards.
“In order to protect the vulnerable persons from COVID-19, Ministry of
Railways makes an appeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example - hypertension, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, immune deficiency conditions), pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years and persons above 65 years of age may avoid travel by rail, except when it is essential,” it said in a statement on Friday.
It has been observed that some people who are availing this service have pre-existing medical conditions which aggravates the risk they face during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry said.
The ministry has attributed the reason behind these deaths to “pre-existing medical conditions”.