I was pleasantly surprised and happy to read this news. in given scenario.. Indian Railways is massive transportation system in India, considering it transports more than 10 million+ passengers every day. There must be tens of thousands train coaches with sleeper beds and electricity with battery backup. Each can be converted into mobile hospital to isolate and if needed transport Corona patients from remote/rural places to hospitals with capacity to care for them. In worse, case, idle railway stations themselves can become medical facilities.
Bigger question is, where will be the medical equipment like ventilators etc will come from to equip these coaches. Nevertheless, these train coaches can be used to provide mobility and transfer of patients much more safely to better medical facilities.
On other note, it was so disheartening to read about millions of labor moving out of cities to their homes.Some better fortunate got hold of trucks etc to be go back.
https://in.reuters.com/video/2020/03/28/migrant-workers-leave-cities-on-trucks-i?videoId=704304893&videoChannel=101
Many were not so lucky and are still stranded on roads without enough water and food. So far, we have only heard about one death of such labourer, who died walking back to his village (270 Km / 170 Miles) from Delhi.
This aspect wasn't well thought out before issuing 21 days lock down order. It had started happening before lock down order itself, and administration / government should have thought about logistics on this. In a way, we are making this problem even worse by sending and spreading this disease to vast rural areas of India, where once this is spread, it will be difficult to contain and provide help. We really can't blame anyone, as there wasn't any precedent for any such thing before. However, still, we should try to set up some kind of camp or shelter for these daily wage workers in cities where they were and provide them food and other basic necessities.
Here is the news copied, in case, Reuters link changes/stops working:
Bigger question is, where will be the medical equipment like ventilators etc will come from to equip these coaches. Nevertheless, these train coaches can be used to provide mobility and transfer of patients much more safely to better medical facilities.
On other note, it was so disheartening to read about millions of labor moving out of cities to their homes.Some better fortunate got hold of trucks etc to be go back.
https://in.reuters.com/video/2020/03/28/migrant-workers-leave-cities-on-trucks-i?videoId=704304893&videoChannel=101
Many were not so lucky and are still stranded on roads without enough water and food. So far, we have only heard about one death of such labourer, who died walking back to his village (270 Km / 170 Miles) from Delhi.
This aspect wasn't well thought out before issuing 21 days lock down order. It had started happening before lock down order itself, and administration / government should have thought about logistics on this. In a way, we are making this problem even worse by sending and spreading this disease to vast rural areas of India, where once this is spread, it will be difficult to contain and provide help. We really can't blame anyone, as there wasn't any precedent for any such thing before. However, still, we should try to set up some kind of camp or shelter for these daily wage workers in cities where they were and provide them food and other basic necessities.
Here is the news copied, in case, Reuters link changes/stops working:
India to use some train coaches as coronavirus isolation wards
NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India said on Saturday it was planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country’s health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country’s 1.3 billion people this week to stay indoors for three weeks in the world’s biggest lockdown, seeking to curb the spread of the illness. India’s network of trains, the country’s lifeblood, has been idled.
One train coach has been turned into a prototype quarantine facility, state-owned Indian Railways said in a statement on Saturday.
Once they get clearance, the plan is for each of India’s railway zones to convert 10 coaches into such wards every week, the company added. Indian Railways has 16 zones, according to its website.
“Railways will offer clean, sanitised & hygienic surroundings for the patients to comfortably recover,” tweeted railways minister Piyush Goyal. He did not specify how many people could be cared for in each coach.
India has reported 918 confirmed cases, including 19 deaths.
The lockdown measures are taking a huge toll on India’s poor, including millions of migrant labourers whose jobs in cities have vanished. Many are now walking back to their villages or crowded bus stations in the hopes of finding rare transport, raising fears they will unintentionally spread the virus across India.
On Saturday, a migrant worker, who set out from New Delhi on a 270 kilometres (168 miles) walk to his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, collapsed and died, a police official said.
India’s home ministry said in a statement on Saturday it was advising states to provide food and shelter to migrants at relief camps alongside highways.
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