Railway minister Vaishnaw reviews Covid preparedness

In context of the recent surge in Covid cases across the country triggered by the Omicron variant, Ashwini Vaishnaw, union minister of the Railways recently directed the senior officials of various railway zones and divisions to facilitate use of railway hospitals and health infrastructure for general public.

VK Tripathi, chairman and chief executive officer, Railway Board, board members and senior officials of the Ministry of Railways along with general managers (GMs) and divisional railway managers (DRMs) of all zonal Railways/PUs joined the meeting virtually.

In the review meeting, Shri Vaishnaw examined the following aspects related to Covid preparedness.

* Railway Hospital Infrastructure

* Paediatric ward functioning

* Vaccination of children and staff of Railways including provisioning of booster dose to frontline workers of Railways.

* Availability of medicines, oxygen supply, zeolite stock and other necessary medical support and functioning of ventilators, liquid medical oxygen tanks, and other equipment which are critical in Covid treatment.

* Commissioning of Oxygen Plants (out of total sanctioned oxygen plants, 78 have already been commissioned and 17 are yet to be commissioned)

* Creating awareness: Increasing the frequency of announcements at railway stations about masking up, sanitisation of hands and other precautionary measures

* Discouraging entry of people without mask at railway stations.

* Running drives to promote wearing of mask and other precautionary measures

* To review the running of special stations for/to in case of emergency and/or sudden surge in number of passengers/migrants at railway stations during current situation of Covid.