the goan I network
MARGAO
The Margao railway station platform will play host to a Covid-19 health team from Thursday to test train passengers arriving in special and regular trains.
Instead of transporting the hundreds of passengers that would alight at the Margao railway to the district hospital, both the Health Services and the Konkan Railway will test the passengers at the platform itself to save time and energy.
Deputy Health Director, Dr Ira Almeida, who is coordinating with the team, inspected the railway platforms along with Konkan Railway officials, including senior officer Joseph George, Baban Ghatge and others to explore the possibility of conducting the tests on the passengers at the railway platform itself.
Sources said the platform towards the right side of the Margao railway station, near the food court area, which is isolated from the station premises, has been found feasible to conduct the tests.
KR officials said the railways will fully cooperate with the health officials and the district officials as the administration is bracing up to undertake Covid testing of hundreds of passengers that are scheduled to arrive at the Margao railway station by trains.
The plan to carry out testing at the station itself is expected to be experimented on Thursday when around 25-30 passengers are expected to alight at the Margao station from a train arriving from Kerala.
The first train from Delhi, carrying hundreds of stranded passengers, is expected to arrive at the Margao railway station during the weekend.
When The Goan contacted Dr Almeida, she said it has been found feasible to open a testing centre at the station itself given the massive task of transporting the passengers to the hospital and the stadium. She, however, said the proposal has been sent to the Health Secretary for approval.
Shedding light on the proposal, a senior health official said that while the health teams will collect the swabs of the incoming passengers at the platform, these will be tested at the Covid laboratory set up at the district hospital.
“The arrangement will help avoid transportation of hundreds of train passengers from the railway station to the hospital. Instead, after the collection of swabs, the passengers will be sent to the stadium and whether they will be sent home or not will depend on the test report,” sources said.
While it takes around 45 minutes to an hour to complete each test, the health officials are bracing up for these mammoth exercises when train frequencies gradually start increasing.
