Indian Railways deploys 960 COVID care coaches in 5 states

New Delhi: Indian Railways on Wednesday said it is deploying its coaches as Covid-19 care isolation centres in five states. The Zonal Railways have converted these coaches as COVID-19 care centres to be used for very mild or mild cases. As of now, Indian Railways has deployed a total 960 Covid-19 care coaches in five states i.e. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.

In Delhi, 503 Covid-19 Care coaches are deployed at nine locations. 50 units are deployed at Shakurbasti, 267 at Anand Vihar, 21 at Delhi Safdarjung, 50 at Delhi Sarai Rohilla, 33 at Delhi Cant, 30 at Adarsh Nagar, 13 at Delhi Shahadra, 13 at Tughlakabad and 26 at Patel Nagar.

In Uttar Pradesh, total 372 Covid-19 Care coaches have been deployed at 23 different locations i.e. Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhadohi, Faizabad, Saharanpur, Mirzapur, Subedarganj, Kanpur, Jhansi, Jhansi Workshop, Agra, Nakha Jungle, Gonda, Nautanwa, Bahraich, Varanasi City, Manduadih, Mau, Bhatni, Bareilly City, Farrukhabad and Kasganj.

In Madhya Pradesh, a total five Covid-19 Care are deployed at Gwalior. In Andhra Pradesh, total 20 COVID Care coaches are deployed at Vijayawada while in Telangana, a total of 60 COVID Care coaches are deployed at 3 different locations i.e. Secunderabad, Kachguda and Adilabad.

Further, as per guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), these state governments have sent the requisition to Indian Railways and Railways have allocated these coaches to the State or UTs.

In addition to this, Railways is also working as Service Provider of Coaches as Covid-19 Care centres as its contribution to the national cause. Doctors and paramedics are to be provided by State Governments. This is as per MOHFW guidelines issued on 6th May 2020.

The Indian Railways further said it will deploy two liaison officers for each location of coaches to assist state government officials. All efforts are being made to reduce the heat in the coaches in the given weather conditions. Railways to assist the state government in all possible manners to help in the care of Covid-19 patients.

The Indian Railways clarified that these coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the Covid-19 Care centres as per guidelines issued by MoHFW. These coaches can be used in areas where State has exhausted the facilities and needs to augment capacities for isolation of both suspects and confirmed Covid-19 cases. These facilities are part of the integrated Covid-19 plan developed by MoHFW and NITI Ayog.

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