GUWAHATI, May 5: The Assam government has urged Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to prepare 150 COVID care coaches at various locations of the state which will be placed at identified stations as and when required by the state authorities.
State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with NFR general manager, Anshul Gupta visited the Guwahati Railway Station to assess the preparedness of the COVID care coaches on Wednesday afternoon.
Independent isolation wards accommodating two patients at a time have been set up in the COVID care coaches to be equipped with oxygen cylinders for the patients.
The initiative comes in the wake of the surge in COVID cases in the state over the past few weeks and as a contingency measure to accommodate COVID patients as and when the need arises.
Recently, 10 COVID care coaches have been placed at Dimapur Railway Station in Nagaland and handed over to the state government for admitting COVID patients.
“NFR is committed to assist all states within its jurisdiction with provision of COVID care coaches as and when request is received from respective state governments to cope with the rising need of hospitalisation owing to COVID-19 pandemic situations,” an official statement issued here on Wednesday said.
In its relentless fight against COVID, the Union ministry of railways is undertaking deployment of COVID care coaches to places of demand by respective states on a war-footing, mobilising workforce and material for this task through rapid action.