Tripura: 15 Railway Coaches to be Converted into COVID-19 Isolation Units

Agartala, April 10, 2020:

Altogether 15 railway coaches in Tripura have been transformed into isolation units in order to ease the job of the state's Health and Family Welfare Department in the time of emergency. Each of the railway coaches has 9 compartments solely designed for patients with all facilities and separate bathrooms and cleaning facilities have been set up, railway officials said today.

Speaking to Inside Northeast, one of the highly placed sources in the North East Frontier Railway said, “In the Northeast, 215 such coaches will be engaged along with 5,000 total such coaches across India. The sole purpose of the initiative is to extend help to the respective health departments in need. We are organizing this matter in such a way that the state health department can access the railway based isolation units when they need to."

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"The positive cases are increasing every day and thus, the Railways have decided to help the state departments wherever it has access and the initiative has been undertaken. The biggest challenge is that in almost all the sates there is serious scarcity of space in the hospitals. In addition to this, the Covid-19 patients cannot be accommodated in a normal hospital due to the highly contagious behavior of the infection. The railways have resolved to take this initiative so that no patient at least left without treatment", he added.

He also said that adequate steps are afoot to sanitize the coaches in a proper manner. “We have converted the enclosed toilets into bathrooms. All the rooms have been sanitized properly. Adequate space is kept for health staff, patients and other necessary arrangements such as oxygen cylinders, masks, gloves etc.”, added the source.

At the same time, the Tripura Excise department has decided to provide 10,000 liters of hand sanitizer to the government of Tripura. In the last two days alone, 8,000 liters have been been supplied, Commissioner of Excise and Taxes B Nagesh Kumar said today.

The Excise Department in collaboration with DIAGEO Group (United Spirits Ltd.) and Gemini Distilleries has committed to manufacture 10,000 liters of sanitizers in Tripura and the first consignment has been already handed over.

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“Keeping in view, the social responsibility and to keep our frontline warriors safe from COVID-19, the Excise Department worked hard with the companies to start the manufacturing in such a short period", Kumar told Inside Northeast.

Meanwhile, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb has just confirmed that one more person from Tripura, a 32-years-old male, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus or COVID-19, taking the total number of cases to two. The second case in linked to the first case, which was detected on April 6.

Moments earlier, Deb took to Twitter to inform about the development. “One more 

 

data-focusable="true">#COVID19 positive case in Tripura has been confirmed, taking the total number to 02 The patient is 32 years old Male from Madhya Pradesh and currently staying at Damcherra & has travelled along with the last COVID19 positive patient in train”, Deb tweeted.

(with inputs from Mrinal Banik)