Southern Railway plans to convert 20 plus year old sleeper class coaches to be used as hospital isolation wards.
This follows the Railway Board Directive to modify coaches into hospitals.
At first, there will be one patient in one lower berth in each cabin and if need arises two in each cabin.
How this is being done
The end-side partition next to the main doorway will be removed at each end.
One Indian style toilet at each end will be converted into a bathing room. This will be done by re-flooring the entire toilet floor with a wooden structure covering the squatting pan.
A hand shower plus bucket/mug and soap dish /liquid dispenser will be provided.
All middle berths will be removed and so will the ladders for climbing up the middle/upper berths.
Extra bottle holders will be provided in each cabin for holding medical equipment.
All charging points for mobiles and laptops will be made functional with 230 V sockets being provided in each cabin.
Plastic curtains in each cabin will be provided for the purpose of isolation.
Northeast Frontier Railway has set up its own modified COVID-19 Isolation Railway Coaches
9 patients can be accommodated per coach.
Here’s a look:
Jagadhari Workshop of Northern Railways Converts LHB Coach to COVID-19 Isolation Facility.
The Jagadhari workshop has also done its bit to convert one LHB Sleeper Coach to a COVID-19 patient isolation facility. See video below