First 59 patients admitted to Covid care rly coaches in UP

NEW DELHI: The first batch of 59 suspected Covid-19 patients was last week admitted in Uttar Pradesh to train coaches converted into isolation wards to deal with the pandemic, the railway ministry said on Monday.

The railways modified 5,231 coaches and converted them into isolation wards two months back for deployment across the country to boost health infrastructure. They had since remained unoccupied.

The Centre has deployed 960 such isolation wards in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Over half of the coaches (503) have been pressed into service in the national capital, one of the worst-hit places by the pandemic in the country, followed by Uttar Pradesh (372).

Forty-two suspected patients were admitted to the isolation coaches deployed at Mau Junction in Uttar Pradesh on June 20 followed by 17 on Sunday. Eight of these patients have been discharged, the railway ministry said.

The railways has handed over the isolation coaches to the chief medical officers of the concerned states and they are supposed to deploy doctors and paramedics for them as per the Union health ministry’s procedures.