The Centre will provide 500 railway coaches to Delhi in view of the shortage of beds for Covid-19 patients in the national capital, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday after a meeting with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The home minister said that the coaches will add 8,000 beds to the existing strength of beds in Delhi and will have all the facilities and equipment to treat coronavirus infection.
दिल्ली में कोरोना से संक्रमित मरीजों के लिए बेड की कमी को देखते हुए केंद्र की मोदी सरकार ने तुरंत 500 रेल्वे कोच दिल्ली को देने का निर्णय लिया है।
इन रेलवे कोच से न सिर्फ दिल्ली में 8000 बेड बढ़ेंगे बल्कि यह कोच कोरोना संक्रमण से लड़ने के लिए सभी सुविधाओं से लेस होंगे।
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) June 14, 2020
This was among a series of decisions taken after a crucial meeting called by the home minister to discuss the Covid-19 situation in Delhi. Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Lieutenat-General Anil Baijal and officials of the State Disaster Management Authority were also present at the meeting.
Delhi, the third-most affected state in the country after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, added 2,134 new coronavirus disease cases on Saturday, taking its total count to 38, 958 including 22,742 active cases and 1,271 fatalities.
At present, Delhi’s bed capacity across private and government hospitals for Covid-19 patients stands at 9,698. Of them, 4,248 are vacant, according to Delhi’s coronavirus app dashboard.
To cope with the surge in coronavirus infections, the Arvind Kejriwal government plans to use 40 hotels and 77 banquet halls as makeshift hospitals. Two top South Delhi hotels – Vasant Continental and Hyatt Regency – were asked to place rooms at the disposal of the hospitals they were being attached to.
Earlier this week, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had said that the national capital is likely to have over five lakh Covid-19 cases by the end of July and 80,000 beds would be needed to accommodate the infected patients.
“Till June 15, there will be 44,000 COVID-19 cases and we would need 6,600 beds. We would hit one lakh cases and would require 15,000 beds by June 30.
“Till July 15, the cases would mount to 2.5 lakh and we would require 33,000 beds and till July 31, there will be 5.5 lakh cases and we would need 80,000 beds,” Sisodia had told reporters after a meeting with L-G Baijal on June 9.
