New Delhi, May 7: Ministry of Railways has converted its 5231 coaches as Covid Care Centers that can be used for very mild cases as per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. These coaches can be used in areas where the State has exhausted the facilities and needs to augment capacities for isolation of both suspected and confirmed Covid cases.

About 215 stations have been identified for placement of COVID Care centers. Out of 215 stations, Railways will provide healthcare facilities in 85 stations while in 130 stations, States to request COVID care coaches only if they agree to provide staff and essential medicines. Indian Railways has kept 158 stations ready with watering and charging facility and 58 stations with watering facility for these COVID Care centers. Train Coaches Turned Into Isolation Wards by Indian Railways as COVID-19 Cases Continue to Rise; See Pics.

Apart from Covid care centers, Indian Railways will be deploying more than 2,500 Doctors and 35,000 paramedic staff to meet the COVID 19 challenge. They are being recruited on a temporary basis by various zones. Around 5,000 beds in 17 dedicated hospitals and 33 hospital blocks in Railway Hospitals are identified for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Besides the provision of coaches as beds, the railway has carried more than 54,000 tonnes of consignments through parcel trains during the lockdown period, carried by 2067 parcel trains till 05.05.2020, out of which 1988 have been time-tabled trains. Its recent relief consignment included transporting 22,890 kgs of organic turmeric having high medicinal value to Secunderabad from Guwahati in COVID Parcel special train.

(This article has been sourced from Prasar Bharati News Services as part of Coronavirus coverage)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 07, 2020 10:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).