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Anand Vihar railway station to house Covid isolation coaches, no train service from Monday
The government has indicated that it is ready to deploy 800 railway coaches, modified into Covid- Care centres in Delhi to provide 8,000 additional beds to the city.
Anand Vihar railway station located in the east of Delhi, a hub for east-bound long-distance trains originating from the national capital, will not see any train service operate from its premises from Monday onwards as all platforms will be reserved for the deployment of Covid 19 isolation coaches, as per railway officials. All trains to and from Anand Vihar will be moved to the Old Delhi station.
The development follows a decision to deploy 500 railway coaches, turned into isolation wards for treatment of around 8,000 coronavirus patients, to augment Delhi’s health infrastructure in view of the rapidly rising cases in the capital.
Delhi government currently has a total of 9,816 dedicated Covid-19 beds spread over hospitals in the city, both public and private. 5,399 of these beds are currently occupied as per data released by the health department on Saturday.
Delhi is only second to Maharashtra in terms of number of coronavirus patients. Its tally of coronavirus cases stands at 41,182 including 15,823 patients who have been cured or discharged. The death toll in the national capital is 1,327 as per health ministry data released on Sunday.
The Railways said on Sunday that it has deployed 204 isolation coaches in four states, including 54 at Delhi’s Shakurbasti railway station maintenance depot. The first batch of 10 coaches with a total capacity of 160 beds was deployed at Shakurbasti station in Delhi on May 31. Now, another 44 coaches have been deployed, said railways.
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According to an integrated Covid management plan developed by the Union government, these coaches can be used in areas where the health infrastructure has been overwhelmed by the spread of the disease or is relatively weak requiring central assistance.
The coaches are equipped with necessary medical facilities such as oxygen cylinders, blankets, medical supplies, sterilized berths etc. The coaches, as per the original plan, were to be used for very mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the coronavirus care centres, according to the guidelines issued by the Health Ministry.
The railway ministry had informed earlier that these coaches-turned-isolation wards will also be equipped with mosquito nets, charging points for laptop and phones and the toilets inside have been modified into bathrooms.
The state is exploring ways and methods to convert large public places into treatment facilities for infected patients. The Delhi government on Sunday issued an order declaring Bara Hindu Rao Hospital in North Delhi, a designated Covid Hospital. All the beds in the hospital will now be used for the treatment of coronavirus cases.
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In another measures taken to augment Delhi’s treatment capacity, a 10,000-bed hospital is being erected on a temporary basis in the premises of Radha Soami Satsang Beas ashram in South Delhi.
On the testing front, the government has decided to double the number of tests being carried out currently in the city-state within the next two days, which will be increased further to three times after six days. Home minister Amit Shah has said that after a few days, testing will start at every polling station in the containment zones.
The development is in line with several other measures taken in the last 24 hours to meet the twin objectives of containing the spread of the deadly contagion and upgrading the capital’s capacity to handle positive cases that are likely to touch 5.5 lakh-mark by the end of July 31, according to an estimate.
