Delhi govt urges railways to arrange 5,000 beds by deploying Covid-care coaches at 2 stations

In a letter to Railway Board Chairman, the Delhi Chief Secretary said facilities at govt & private hospitals are strained and there's an urgent need for more Covid bed facilities.

Workers converting a railway coach into an isolation ward at Shakurbasti railway station in Delhi in June 2020 | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: The Delhi government has urged the railways to arrange up to 5,000 beds by deploying COVID-care coaches at the Shakur Basti and the Anand Vihar stations in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the national capital.

In a letter to Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma, Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev said there has been a tremendous increase of COVID-19 cases in Delhi in the recent past, resulting in high number of serious cases requiring treatment in hospitals.

In the GNCTD, as of now, the facilities at government and private hospitals available are getting strained and there is an urgent need for more number of COVID bed facilities to cope up with the ever increasing demand of COVID-19 patients who require admissions in hospitals,” he said.

I therefore, request you to kindly arrange COVID bed facilities at the Anand Vihar and the Shakur Basti railway stations with full logistical support, requisite medical and paramedical staff and oxygen facilities etc. on an emergent basis,” Dev said.

Further, it would be grateful if the railways identifies more such facilities “up to a level of 5,000 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, he said in the letter dated April 17.

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

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