NEW DELHI: While the Delhi government has kept railway coaches as last resort for transferring coronavirus patients, the Indian Railways seems to have gone ahead with sending patients to these coaches on Wednesday.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed on Wednesday that patients have started arriving at one of the locations. "First patient arrived at Shakur Basti Covid Care Center of Railways in New Delhi. We are committed to provide all necessary help in this fight against COVID-19," said Goyal in a tweet.
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has recently visited some of these remodelled coaches and had expressed concern that the hot weather may make it unbearable for patients and health staff. There are around 500 non air-conditioned train coaches with the capacity of accommodating 8,000 beds in different locations across Delhi. These have been provided by the central government to augment the bed capacity in the state.
According to the government, 10 remodelled coaches have become operational in the first phase and the capacity will increase soon. The army and railways have also deputed manpower for crowd management of the isolation centers. So far one person has arrived while 15 more are expected to be placed in isolation soon.
"The Delhi government has started a Covid care centre at Shakurbasti. It has a capacity to cater to 800 patients in 50 coaches. As of now, 10 coaches have been operationalised and the facility will be enhanced as needed. Only asymptomatic or patients with very mild symptoms are being accommodated here. This will be highly beneficial for isolating the patients and treating those who do not have such facilities," Mohmmad Rehan Raza, SDM, Incident Commander.
This is a joint effort by the administration, railways, and army. Patients will be provided with food by railways and medical attention by Army Medical Corps while overall supervision will be under the Delhi government. Delhi has registered more than 70,000 cases till now with more than 3,000 cases being reported daily over the past few days.