No Covid-19 patients yet at isolation coaches at 2 Delhi railway stations: Official

The Delhi government on Sunday urged the Railway Board to make special Covid-19 care coaches available at two railway stations like last year as cases of the viral disease were increasing at a rapid pace in the city.

No Covid-19 patients have been admitted at the isolation coaches at two railway stations in Delhi days after the request was made by the Arvind Kejriwal government, Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma said on Friday. “Delhi asked us for 50 coaches (800 beds) which have been placed at Shakur Basti. Twenty-five coaches (400 beds) have been placed at Anand Vihar. However, so far, patients have not come,” the top railway official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Isolation coaches deployed at a railway station for Covid-19 patients. (PTI File Photo )

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government hasn't commented whether people are being admitted to those coaches. The Delhi government on Sunday urged the Railway Board to make special Covid-19 care coaches available at two railway stations like last year as cases of the viral disease were increasing at a rapid pace in the city. Emphasising that facilities at government and private hospitals available in the national capital were getting strained due to the “tremendous” increase in Covid-19 cases, Delhi’s chief secretary Vijay Kumar Dev wrote to Suneet Sharma. “…request you to kindly arrange Covid bed facilities at Anand Vihar and Shakur Basti Railway Stations with full logistical support, requisite medical and para-medical staff and oxygen facilities etc on an emergent basis,” Dev said in his letter.

The request was approved by the Centre within a few hours. Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal assured support to the Delhi government and said that over three lakh isolation beds can be arranged if the states demand. “Govt under PM @NarendraModi leading the fight against COVID-19: 50 COVID-19 isolation coaches with 800 beds ready at Shakur Basti Station & 25 coaches will be available at Anand Vihar Station in Delhi. Railways can setup >3 lakh isolation beds across the country on States' demand,” Piyush Goyal wrote on Twitter.

As Delhi faces an “extreme” shortage of medical oxygen for Covid-19 patients, the government has also put in a request to the railways to operate 'Oxygen Express' to meet the demand. "We have received a request from Delhi just now, and we are still planning its movement. We will likely get the oxygen from Rourkela," the Railway Board chairman was quoted as saying PTI.

On Thursday, Delhi reported a single-day spike of 26,169 cases and 306 fatalities, according to data the latest data provided by the chief minister’s office.