Rail coaches turned into isolation units for covid-19 patients remain unutilized in the state even as the number of patients is on the rise. The administration believes that it has required beds at covid-10 dedicated hospital and would rather augment facilities there and would use the rail coaches as last resort.
The railways converted coaches into isolation wards or ICUs in case of surge in number of patients and also to ensure healthcare access in remote areas which lack the requisite facilities. On the requisition of state governments, the Railways had parked 960 such isolation coaches across five states including Madhya Pradesh. Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are the only states to have used the covid-19 care coaches. As many as 118 corona infected patients were admitted to these coaches, of these 72 have been cured and discharged. Indian Railways is prepared to provide 5231 Covid Care Centers, which zonal Railways have converted to be used as quarantine facilities.
In Bhopal, coaches were converted as covid-19 care isolation units for treating infected patients. These coaches on the tracks are fully equipped with all required medical facilities.
According to Railway officials (Bhopal), rail coaches were converted into isolation units but till date no patient has been admitted to these coaches. The coaches prepared by Railways are at the disposal of district administration, however, they are lying idle.
CMHO Dr Prabhakar Tiwari confirmed that district administration has not used any isolation coaches of Railways till date. “We have sufficient beds in our covid-19 dedicated hospitals and if need be, we will increase beds in these medical facilities instead of going to Railways isolation coaches. We have not used any such isolation coaches of Railways so far,”said the CMHO.
So far only two states have started using the facility offered by the Railways. Delhi has 503 such coaches at its disposal across nine stations and while in Uttar Pradesh 372 coaches have been parked in 24 locations. The remaining railway coaches are parked in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
