Coronavirus: Railways designs 'doctor's booth' for zero-contact check-ups

The West Central Railway's Coach Rehabilitation Workshop (CRWS) has designed a mobile "doctor's booth", using a toilet from one of its old coaches, to facilitate zero-contact check-ups in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CRWS in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal city repurposed the toilet from an old bogey, by converting it into a cabin, which can be used by doctors to examine patients without directly coming into contact with them.

"As medical staff, especially doctors, are facing threat to their lives due to shortage of PPE kits, engineers at the CRWS converted toilets of unused rail coaches into mobile booths, which can be placed anywhere," a senior CRWS official told PTI.

The booth will have a back entrance and a glass exterior in front, while doctors can sit comfortably on a specially designed chair and examine patients from two openings covered with protective gears, he said.

The cabin will also have a wall-mounted side table for doctors to write prescriptions, study x-rays and test reports, the official added.

This booth will enable doctors to examine patients without any direct physical contact or interaction, thereby protecting them from dangers of viral exposure without any PPE kit, he said.

Besides, it is also environment-friendly, as it reduces the disposal of single polypropylene PPEs, he added.

A prototype of the booth will be ready in a day or two and subject to demand, the CRWS can supply the same to medical professionals, the official said, adding that the cost and other modalities of cabins will be decided once the design is approved.