Posts have been circulating on social media showing pictures of a new quarantine facility for Coronavirus patients inside the Indian railways.
India converts train coaches to COVID-19 isolation wards. Each coach to have a doctor and a nurse with 8 cabins. India established a 6370 bedded medical facility overnight, with a fraction of its cost. Really great step. pic.twitter.com/TgsDi5ndAz
— Rahul Anand (@RahulGo8u) March 30, 2020
The posts further state that this facility was built overnight at a fraction of the cost of China’s 1000-bed hospital facility.
India converts train coaches as isolation wards. Each coach to have a doctor and a nurse with 8 cabins. China constructed 1000 bedded hospital in 10 days. India established 6370 bedded medical facility overnight, with a fraction of its cost. pic.twitter.com/PxujdwJA5T
— Pendu Shehari (@PenduShehari) March 29, 2020
Fact Check
NewsMobile fact-checked the posts and found them to be misleading.
Firstly, we input the images of the decorated train in the post above on to Google Reverse Image Search. It led us to articles on India’s lifeline train Jeevan Express launched in August 2019. The seven-coach Express train was donated by the Indian Railways to bring healthcare facilities to the doorstep of the rural population who cannot reach a hospital.
When we looked up the other images in the post through Google Reverse Image search, it led us to the official account of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Stepping up efforts to fight Coronavirus, Railways has converted a train coach into an isolation ward. 🛌
Take a look at a prototype of an isolation ward, ready with medical facilities, in Kamakhya in Assam, with each coach having a capacity of serving 9 patients. #CoronaUpdate pic.twitter.com/2R7Dzd2XWm
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 28, 2020
It officially announces that the Indian Railways is in the process to launch isolation facilities within the trains but it hasn’t been done yet. The number of beds as quoted by Piyush Goyal is 3.2 Lakhs. A Tweet by him further states that the image is of a prototype of an isolation ward in Kamakhya, Assam.
Hence the news of a 6370-bed quarantine facility built overnight is misleading.
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