With a massive surge in COVID-19 cases in many states of India on a daily basis, the demand for beds for treamtments is also doubling. Given the current situation, many hospitals are running out of beds leading to a delay in the treatment of the patients. The Indian Railways came to the rescue and utilised its railway passanger coaches for carrying out treatments.
Today the ministry of railways said that it has made nearly 4000 COVID-19 care coaches with almost 64,000 beds ready for use by states. At present 169 coaches have been handed over to various states.
The ministry has also mobilised COVID-19 care coaches for Nagpur, Bhopal, Tihi, near Indore as per demand from their respective states. "An MoU was signed between Divisional Railway Manager, Nagpur and Commissioner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation for 11 COVID care coaches," it said.
Madhya Pradesh Government had requested Indian Railways to deploy 20 Covid Care Coaches at Bhopal and 20 Covid Care Coaches at Habibganj Railway Stations in West Central Railway. These Covid Care Coaches shall be operational and handed over to State Government from 25th April 2021.
As per data, in Northern Railway, 50 Covid Care Coaches at Shakur Basti, 25 Covid Care Coaches at Anand Vihar, 10 at Varanasi, 10 at Bhadohi and 10 Covid Care Coaches at Faizabad have been deployed by Indian Railways.
In the coaches, Mosquito nets, bio-toilets, power sockets and oxygen cylinders are made available. Also, space has been created to hold IV-fluid bottles. Extra bottle holders and clamps have been provided to hang them.
Last year, the railways had deployed 813 coaches with 12,472 beds in July with Delhi having 503 such beds, Uttar Pradesh 270 and Bihar 40. However, most of these coaches were not used and complaints about the heat and mosquitoes inside them were raised.
