Delhi will get 500 train coaches

In view of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the national capital, the central and Delhi government announced several steps to increase health services today. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Delhi Deputy Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other officials. After this, he said that the Center will immediately provide 500 cans of rail equipped beds to the Delhi government.

This will add another 8,000 beds for Covid patients near Delhi. At present there are 9,800 covid beds in Delhi. These coaches of the rail will be equipped with all kinds of facilities to treat Covid patients.

Presiding over the meeting, Shah said that the coronavirus investigation in Delhi would be doubled in the next two days and tripled in the next six days. The Center has also constituted a committee under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member VK Paul to ensure availability of 60 per cent beds for Covid patients at low rates in private hospitals. The committee will also decide the cost of corona examination and treatment. The committee will submit its report on Monday. With the central assistance, the Delhi government announced to make all the 10 to 49 bedded nursing homes as Covid Centers. These hospitals have been asked to prepare beds for Covid patients by 16 June. According to the state government's estimate, about 15,000 beds will be needed in Delhi by June 30, while by July 15, 33,000 beds may be required. Currently there are around 9,800 beds in Delhi for Covid patients.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday directed Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and others to prepare contingency plans for more affected states and urban centers.

In the meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that he also directed to reduce the time of maintenance of dead bodies of people who died due to Covid. The central government will issue new guidelines for their final action.

The Union Home Minister said that the Central Government will register health services for volunteers of Scouts and Guides, NCC, NSS and other voluntary organizations. Shah has ordered house-to-house survey for contact mapping in 241 Containment Zone of Delhi and to provide facility of investigation at polling stations in these areas. He said the survey report would be available in a week. All residents will be asked to download the Arogya Setu app on their mobile phones for effective monitoring.

Currently, Indian Railways have received demand for isolation coaches from Delhi, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. A railway official said, "24 places have been identified in Uttar Pradesh, where 10 coaches will be provided at each place." However, the Railways had prepared 5,231 covid care centers in April itself. But he had asked the states to withdraw 60 per cent of the coaches due to no demand from the states.

As part of the first phase of allocation, about 250 coaches will be erected from Sunday at Anand Vihar, Old Delhi, Safdarjung, Sarai Rohilla and Nizamuddin stations. At present, 10 isolation coaches of only 160 beds have been deployed at Shakurbasti. Shah is likely to hold a meeting with Delhi's mayors, state government and senior railway officials. Indian Railways has been ordered to provide 500 coaches to the Delhi government. Railways have identified 215 stations for erecting isolation coaches. Telangana has asked coaches to stand in three places- Secunderabad, Kachiguda and Adilabad. Railways said that these coaches can be used for patients with very few symptoms. The railways said in a statement, "These coaches can be used in areas where the state's capacity is out and it needs to increase capacity for isolation of suspected and confirmed corona cases." These facilities are part of a coordinated COVID scheme formulated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and NITI Aayog.

Sources indicated that the delay in deploying the coaches was not only due to less demand from the states but also the concerns raised by the NITI Aayog in April. The NITI Aayog had expressed concern that it would be difficult to use these non-air conditioned coaches in summer. Especially in North India, where the temperature reaches above 45 ° C. The railway then came up with a plan to repaint the coaches with a solar-reflective coating to reduce the temperature by at least 3 to 5 degrees. However, sources said that this has been done for only a few coaches and there are high temperature concerns.

The central government has formed a committee of senior doctors of AIIMS, which will inform the clinics and small hospitals in Delhi about the best ways to fight the corona. A help line number will be created through the telephone with guidelines, which will be released on Monday.