TIRUCHY: In its April 17 edition, TNIE reported Southern Railway (SR) has earmarked 11 railway hospitals to treat coronavirus cases. Eight hospitals are in Tamil Nadu and three in Kerala. It was also reported SR has kept 1,236 beds ready in these hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients. Following this, SR in a statement said 1,135 is the total number of beds in all Southern Railway hospitals.
Of these, 384 beds in five hospitals - three in Tamil Nadu and two in Kerala- are being made ready by Southern Railway for treating COVID-19 positive patients, both for Southern Railway and non-railway patients if the situation so warrants.
The list of these five hospitals has been communicated by the Ministry of Railways to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare who in turn has shared the same with State governments. Of these, in two hospitals at Palakkad and Tiruchy, only part of the hospitals has been earmarked for CoVID-19, as the remaining beds are required for other patients.