As many as 42 suspected patients have been admitted in specially designed covid coaches by the Indian Railways deployed at Mau Junction in Varanasi division on June 20 and 17 patients were admitted on June 21. However, eight patients have already been discharged till now.

With this, Indian Railways has started providing care to corona patients referred for admission in Covid coaches deployed in various States. “Railways is making an all out effort to supplement the health care efforts of State Governments. It has geared up to provide its 5,231 Covid Care Coaches to the States. Zonal Railways have converted these coaches as covid centres to be used for very mild or mild cases,” it said in a statement.

As of now, Indian Railways has deployed total 960 Covid Care coaches in 5 states i.e. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhara Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh. Out of total 960 Covid Care coaches, 503 Covid care coaches have been deployed in Delhi, 20 in Andhra Pradesh, 60 in Telangana, 372 in Uttar Pradesh and 5 in Madhya Pradesh.

In Delhi, 503 Covid Care coaches are deployed at 9 locations. 50 such coaches 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, it said.

“In Uttar Pradesh, total 372 Covid Care coaches have been deployed at 23 different locations i.e. Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Jn., 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,” it added.

“In Madhya Pradesh, total 5 Covid Care coaches are deployed at Gwalior. In Andhra Pradesh, total 20 Covid Care coaches are deployed at Vijayawada while in Telangana, a total of 60 such coaches are deployed at 3 different locations i.e. Secunderabad, Kachguda and Adilabad,” it said.

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 States and Union Territories.

It is worth mentioning that Indian Railways is working as Service Provider of Coaches as Covid Care Centres as its contribution to national cause. Doctors and paramedics are to be provided by State Governments. This is as per MOHFW guidelines issued on 6th May 2020.

It may be noted that these Coaches can be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the Covid Care centers as per guidelines issued by MoHFW. These coaches can be used in areas where the State has exhausted the facilities and needs to augment capacities for isolation of both suspect and confirmed Covid cases.