Trains are new mobile hospitals in India as services shut after 167 years
20,000 old train carriages converted
The Indian Railways ministry has decided to convert as many as 20,000 old train carriages into isolation wards for patients due to the virus spread.
'Railways will offer clean, sanitized and hygienic surroundings'
"Now, the railways will offer clean, sanitized and hygienic surroundings for the patients to comfortably recover," Piyush Goyal, the Railways Minister said in a tweet.
Each sanitized carriage will be able to accommodate up to 16 patients, alongside a nurses' station, a doctor's cabin, and space for medical supplies and equipment.
'Mobile hospitals' trains to make-up for bed shortage
The 'mobile hospitals' trains will be sent to any location that might be facing a hospital bed shortage due to a potential rise of cases in coronavirus.
The central government has instructed railway factories to assess the feasibility of manufacturing hospital beds, stretchers, medical trolleys, masks, sanitizers, aprons, and medical equipments such as ventilators for use in railway hospitals and other government hospitals.
16 zones to identify non-air conditioned carriages
Railway chiefs across the nation have instructed each of India's 16 railway zones to identify non-air conditioned carriages that are no longer in operation on passenger routes to turn into hospitals, and have them ready for use in case of an emergency.
File photo of isolation wards
Executive director of information and publicity at the Railway Board Rajesh Dutt Bajpai said: "The first 5,000 isolation wards will be ready within a fortnight, and if necessary, more carriages can be converted within 48 hours."
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