Coronavirus: Delhi to get 500 converted rail coaches for patients

Hospitals in Indian capital unable to cope with rapidly rising case numbers

The entrance of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital in New Delhi, where medical facilities have been strained by a mounting numbers of coronavirus cases. AFP

India on Sunday sent 500 railway coaches converted into hospital wards to help the capital region cope with a flood of coronavirus cases.

The coaches will increase Delhi's capacity by 8,000 beds, federal home minister Amit Shah said on Twitter after a meeting with the capital's region chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal.

With more than 22,000 active cases, Delhi is the third-worst affected region after the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Mr Kejriwal has said the number of cases in the city is expected to cross half a million by the end of July.

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India's coronavirus wards on rails

An Indian Railways train carriage converted into a ward for coronavirus patients. All photos courtesy Indian Railways

The coaches are being converted in preparation for a possible spike in coronavirus cases among India's 1.3 billion people.

India's Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said the carriages serving as isolation wards would be able to accommodate nine patients.

Besides patient beds, the converted coaches will have cabins for doctors and nurses.

The nurses' cabin in a converted railway carriage.

The carriages also have their own bathrooms.

Indian Railways said it planned to convert at least 5,000 carriages into wards.

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Indian media have reported numerous cases of patients being turned away from overburdened Delhi hospitals and dying without treatment. There has also been an outcry over the high cost of beds and coronavirus treatment at private hospitals.

Ashwani Jain, a 45-year-old businessman, succumbed to the coronavirus in an ambulance as his family pleaded with several hospitals to take him in.

"It won't matter to them but I have lost my father, he was the world to me," his 20-year-old daughter Kashish told Agence France-Presse.

His brother Abhishek said hospitals refused to admit him even though an app set up by the city government indicated that beds reserved for Covid-19 patients were available.

India began converting railway coaches into hospital wards in March as it halted train services and imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

"These wards will be equipped with necessary facilities for patients, doctors and nurses," Railways Minister Piyush Goyal told The National at the time.

Mr Goyal said his ministry planned to convert at least 5,000 coaches for use in case of a shortage of hospital space in the country.

Mr Shah, the home minister, said on Sunday a committee was looking into providing 60 per cent of private hospital beds in Delhi at low cost for coronavirus patients, and fixing the cost of testing and treatment. A report would be submitted on Monday, he said.

He said the government would also double testing in the city, especially in containment zones, conduct a door-to-door health survey of residents and provide sufficient supplies of oxygen cylinders and ventilators.

Delhi, with about 20 million people, accounts for more than 1,000 of the 9,195 coronavirus deaths among India's 1.3 billion population.

India is currently the fourth-worst affected country in the world with more than 320,000 cases after another record daily increase of nearly 12,000 confirmed infections reported by the health ministry on Sunday.

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Coronavirus around the world

Jean Paul Benavente, Governor of Cusco, talks to experts and authorities assessing the new health and distancing protocols in order to reopen the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu (background) to the public on July 1 during a visit to the ruin grounds on June 12, 2020. AFP

Professionals, amateurs and supporters of bullfighting take part in a protest, calling for support of their businesses from the government in Seville, Spain. Getty Images

Maestranza bullring, closed during the coronavirus lockdown measures in Seville, Spain. Getty Images

Founder of COVID Thailand Aid, Natalie Bin Narkprasert, left, and Alex Vazquez from Mexican give food to a woman at the railway-side community in Bangkok, Thailand. AP Photo

The beach is empty where a few tourists spend time on the waters' edge in Cancun, Mexico. AP Photo

Job seekers stand in line to have their temperatures checked before a job test at a school in Seoul, South Korea. EPA

Tourists wait to check in at the airport in Cancun, Mexico. In Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located, tourism is the only industry there is, and Cancun is the only major Mexican resort to reopen so far. AP Photo

A vendor wears a face mask as he sells balloons near the Bogor Palace in Bogor, Indonesia. The Indonesian government has imposed a new set of regulations known as 'new normal', which will be implemented in stages, starting in early June for some provinces. EPA

Two Muslim women wear face masks near the Bogor Palace in Bogor, Indonesia. EPA

Participants take part in a Pride Run during the Shanghai Pride festival, in Shanghai, following the coronavirus disease outbreak, China. Reuters

People flutter improvised white flags along a road to show their need for food during a mandatory quarantine imposed by the government against the spread of the new coronavirus in San Pedro Perulapan, El Salvador. AFP

Bishop O'Connell High School graduates Michael Gallo, Daniel Cahill and Rafael Ruiz process during a front yard drive-in coronavirus honorary graduation ceremony at a home in Falls Church, Virginia, US. Reuters

People drink outside a bar during the reopening phase following the coronavirus outbreak in the East Village neighbourhood of New York City, New York, US. Reuters

Nadia Williams, centre, is surprised to see her mother, Anita Turner, left, upon exiting a building at Park Springs elder care facility in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Workers who agreed to live at Park Springs to keep its residents safe from the coronavirus are back with their loved ones for the first time in nearly three months. AP Photo

Teisha Roberts, center, a nursing director, is greeted by her family as she prepares to leave Park Springs elder care facility in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Workers who agreed to live at Park Springs to keep its residents safe from the coronavirus are back with their loved ones for the first time in nearly three months. AP Photo

Elisabete Nagata (top) hugs her 76-year-old sister-in-law Luiza Nagata, through a transparent plastic curtain at a senior nursing home in Sao Paulo, Brazil amid the pandemic. AFP

Danielle Espinoza, right, listens as hairstylist Wendy Newsome, in Portland, Oregon., provides a virtual guided haircut over their computers through Zoom during the coronavirus outbreak in San Francisco. AP Photo

A man wearing a pink tutu rides a bicycle past the Coliseum monument as he takes part in a "Rome Pride LGBTI" flashmob in Rome, as the country eases its lockdown. AFP

An electic-rickshaw drier rides past a mural painted on a garbage dump after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the coronavirus in New Delhi. AFP

Demonstrators sit on the ground with placards during a coronavirus protest in Kathmandu, Nepal. EPA

A deserted market during partial lockdown in Lahore, Pakistan. EPA

Sri Lankan election officials take part in a mock election in Negombo, Sri Lanka. EPA