Palghar receives 23 rail coaches to treat Covid patients

Western Railway (WR) on Saturday morning provided 23 non-AC rail coaches parked at platform 3 at Palghar railway station to treat Covid patients

Western Railway (WR) on Saturday morning provided 23 non-AC rail coaches parked at platform 3 at Palghar railway station to treat Covid patients. The coaches can treat up to 414 patients at a time.

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Rajendra Gavit, MP from Palghar, had written to railway minister Piyush Goyal last week after members of the Dahanu Vaitarna Pravasi Sevabhavi Sanstha (DVPSS) highlighted the shortage of Covid beds in Palghar hospitals. Goyal agreed to provide rail coaches.

“On Friday GVL Satyakumar, deputy regional manager, WR, Mumbai signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Palghar district collector Dr Manik Gursal, and on Saturday, we provided the rail coaches,” said Sumit Thakur, chief public relations officer, WR.

The district collector had sought AC coaches in view of summer heat, but WR agreed to provide non-AC coaches. However, air coolers are to be installed in the coaches with around 9 big desert air coolers in each coach. Each coach can treat 18 patients, said Thakur. “We hope to start admitting Covid-19 patients on Sunday onwards,” he said adding,, “We will send more coaches as soon as the present 23 coaches are occupied at Palghar.”

“There are more than 17,500 Covid patients in Palghar district and there is a paucity of hospital beds. Hence, rail coaches are the best option and we need more coaches to manage 2,000 patients — 500 each in Dahanu, Boisar, Palghar and Vasai,” said a government official.

Earlier, Nandurbar and Nagpur districts had received such rail coaches to treat Covid-19 patients. In Nandurbar, 57 patients are currently admitted in the special Covid express coaches.