All 86 of its Covid hospitals to soon have oxygen plants: Railways

All 86 of railways' COVID hospitals will soon have oxygen plants of their own, the national transporter said on Tuesday.

A statement from the ministry said that it was planning massive capacity enhancement in 86 railway hospitals across India which have been identified as COVID hospitals.

While four oxygen plants are already functional, 52 have been sanctioned and 30 are under various stages of processing.

"All railway COVID Hospitals to be equipped with oxygen plants," it said.

General managers of zonal railways have been delegated further powers upto Rs 2 crore in each case for sanctioning oxygen generation plants, it said.

A series of measures have been initiated for the treatment of rail staffers and their families.

The number of beds for COVID treatment have been increased from 2,539 to 6,972. The ICU beds in COVID hospitals have been increased from 273 to 573.

Invasive ventilators have been added and their number has been increased from 62 to 296.

"Constant efforts are being made to add critical medical equipment like BIPAP machines, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders etc in railway hospitals. The railways have also issued instructions that COVID affected employees may be admitted to empanelled hospitals on referral basis as per need.

"This massive capacity enhancement in railway hospitals would usher in better infrastructure to handle medical emergencies," the railways said.

Around 2,000 railway employees have so far lost their lives to COVID with about 1,000 getting infected daily, according to official data. So far, around 4.32 lakh rail employees have been vaccinated.