J&K govt to convert railway coaches into isolation wards for COVID-19 cases

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for coronavirus patients, a senior government official said on Saturday.

Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department, Atal Dulloo chaired a meeting between the Railways department and the Health and Medical Education Department here in which various modalities were discussed to convert the railway coaches into isolation wards, an official statement said.

During the meeting, Dullo asked the railway authorities to provide at least 100 isolation beds in coaches in Jammu to augment the existing isolation facilities for COVID-19 cases.

He added that utmost care would be taken in preparing the coaches for isolation purpose keeping the safety of patients in mind.

Patient safety is a priority of the government and proper facilities will be made available to them in these isolation facilities. The bogies will be stationed at a proper place in the next two to three days after taking into consideration the feasibility and advantageous aspects of the locations, he said.

Training will also be imparted to the railway employees who will be working there and the process will be started in the next three days, according to the statement.

Earlier, the Financial Commissioner held a video conference with senior officers of the Army's Northern Command to finalise the modalities for establishing makeshift isolation hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir by utilising their services.

Various locations came up for discussion during the meeting for establishing the isolation facilities, the statement said adding that possible locations that came up for discussion include a stadium and an ashram in Jammu.

A decision on the location will be taken after following proper guidelines to turn them into a makeshift COVID-19 hospital.

During the video conference, it was given out that hospitals with around 100-200 beds each in Jammu and Kashmir will be established by the Army to cater to the possibility of a spike in coronavirus positive cases, the statement said.