The Ministry of Railways has called for full preparedness to ensure testing, tracking and treating of patients amid the gradual lifting of lockdown in many States and a strong apprehension on the future course of COVID-19.
Chief Medical Directors of the zonal railways have been told to ensure availability of adequate infrastructure, especially for paediatric patients, and act immediately upon any change in the demographic profile of the patients or increase in the number of new infections.
The Railways, which transports millions of passengers every day, will enforce COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and also vaccinate all employees/beneficiaries in its premises. In an advisory, the Railway Board said, “There is a strong apprehension of future course of the pandemic which may be in the current form of virus or in a mutated version. The problem of Delta Plus variant is already causing concern. The situation calls for immediate action.”
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Vulnerable group
The most vulnerable group could be unvaccinated individuals, particularly those below 18 years. While most of the railway hospitals are provided with sufficient facilities of oxygen supply by way of enhanced number of cylinders, concentrators and Pressure Swing Adsorption plants, the advisory asked senior medical officers to review the availability of adequate stock of medicines/consumables besides sensitising doctors/paramedical staff for the future course of the pandemic.
General Managers of the zonal railways/production units were told to arrange vaccination for all beneficiaries including porters, contractors and others, by the end of July. Additional centres could be opened to meet the target and also give priority to those due for the second dose of the vaccine.
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One of the serious impediments in achieving the target of vaccination was the willingness of the beneficiaries to come forward to take the shot. Besides deploying staff of the Personnel Department to persuade the personnel to volunteer for vaccination, the best practices of divisions/workshops should be showcased to motivate others lagging in achieving target/reducing wastage of vaccines.
“It has also been decided to suitably reward divisions/zones who follow the best practice of achieving laid down targets of vaccination/reducing waste of vaccines. Similar reward schemes may also be initiated so that the staff remains motivated to face the challenges,” the Railway Board said.
Isolation coaches
Sources in the Railways said hundreds of ICF model coaches converted into isolation coaches would continue to remain available for use in any emergency. Of the 5,600 coaches that were converted, 4,430 were available for use as isolation coaches across the country. While the Northern Railway has the highest number of 897 such coaches stationed in its network, the Western Railway has 410 coaches followed by the South Central Railway (339), the South Eastern Railway (336) and the Southern Railway (329).