Railway hospitals face staff crunch amid rush

Hyderabad: Railway hospitals and health units here are facing staff crunch in the prevailing pandemic situation, that has led to a 21-day nationwide lockdown.
“We are dealing with a huge number of patients everyday. Now that the majority of senior staff is taking care of the patients in mandatory isolation due to Covid-19, there is a lot of pressure on the rest of the staff,” a source told TOI.
Now that the railway hospitals in Mettuguda and Lallaguda will be extending services to central government employees, the staff at thefacilities is expecting heavy rush.“Most of the railway staff including engineers, loco pilots and gatemen are being checked and admitted after returning from work. This has led to a huge division of hospital staff between patients with Covid-19 symptoms and other patients,” he added.
Sources said a number of potential patients with travel histories from different states are being treated regularly. Meanwhile, Indian Railways has notified zonal general managers and production units to gear up to tackle the rush.