Railways to deploy over 2,500 doctors, 35,000 paramedics at COVID-19 care centres

The Railways on Thursday said it will deploy over 2,500 doctors and 35,000 paramedics at its coaches-turned-coronavirus care centres that will be parked at 215 railway stations across the country for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Various zones have been recruiting doctors and other healthcare professionals on a temporary basis, it said in a statement, a day after the government gave its nod for the deployment of 5,231 coaches.

The trains will be attached to the nearest COVID-19 hospital.

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"Around 5,000 beds in 17 dedicated hospitals and 33 hospital blocks in railway hospitals have been identified for treatment of such patients and to get ready for any contingency," it said. According to health ministry's guidelines, state governments will send the requisition to Railways and it will make allocation of these coaches to the sates and union territories.

"After allocation by Railways, the train shall be placed at required station with necessary infrastructure, and handed over to District Collector/Magistrate or one of their authorised persons. Wherever the train is placed, watering, electricity, repairs required, catering arrangements, security shall be taken care by railways," it said.

The coaches will be spread across all major hotspots in India and cover both the big cities as well as rural areas.

The railway stations where the coaches will be parked are in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and other cities.

At 21, Maharashtra has the maximum number of stations where the coaches will be kept, followed by Uttar Pradesh (19), West Bengal (18), Bihar (15), Madhya Pradesh(14) and Assam (13).

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