Delhi government requests Railways to provide COVID-care coaches at 2 stations

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 18, 2021, 5:34 PM IST

Over 25,000 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in Delhi and the positivity rate has increased to nearly 30% in the last 24 hours, according to data shared by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The Delhi government wrote to the Indian Railways on Sunday requesting its support to arrange for bed facilities for the patients at Anand Vihar and Shakur Basti stations to tackle the massive surge of Covid-19 cases in the national capital.

Delhi chief secretary Vijay Kumar Dev informed railway board chairman Suneet Sharma about the tremendous increase of Covid-19 cases in Delhi in the recent past resulting in a high number of serious Covid cases requiring treatment in hospitals.

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Stressing that the facilities at government and private hospitals available in Delhi are getting strained and there is an urgent need for more Covid-19 bed facilities, Dev wrote, “I, therefore, 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.”

Over 25,000 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in Delhi and the positivity rate has increased to nearly 30% in the last 24 hours, according to data shared by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

He also said that less than 100 ICU beds are vacant in Delhi hospitals, and the situation is worsening every moment.

Delhi chief secretary also made similar requests to the railway department saying, “We would be grateful if you identify more such facilities upto a level of 5000 beds, as was done last year, so as to meet the huge demand of beds arising out of an ever increasing surge in positive cases this time in NCT of Delhi.”

Last year, the railways had deployed 813 coaches with 12,472 beds in July -- Delhi (503), Uttar Pradesh (270) and Bihar (40).

However, most of these coaches were not used and complaints were raised about the heat and mosquitoes inside them.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare guidelines, the responsibility of maintaining the coaches will be shared by the railways and the state government.

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