Now railway hospitals to get CCTV cameras, wifi

Not just the railway stations and coaches, now the cleanliness and security at the railway hospitals will also be monitored through CCTV cameras and their premises will have wifi connections for better patient-care, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said.

The divisional, as well as zonal railway hospitals, have been given time till the end of this year to install CCTV cameras on a priority basis.

Goyal, who visited the Northern Railway Central Hospital on Monday, had conducted an extensive review of the health care system of the national transporter on August 29.

In a set of instructions sent to the general managers of all the zones on September 14, the Railway Board has asked them to ensure that these systems are put in place.

There are a total of 125 railway hospitals in the country.

The board has said the wifi connection will be given to facilitate the doctors and patients to exchange medical records, provide ease in consultation, enable tele-video chat, conference with specialists at other centres for a better overall patient care.

The railway zones and divisions have been given time till December 31 to complete the work.

Since Goyal took over as the railway minister, the stress has been on the installation of CCTV cameras and providing wifi connections at the stations across the railway network.

In August, RailTel had floated a tender for the supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation and maintenance of 89,845 IP (Internet Protocol) based video surveillance systems (VSS) at 6,124 high-footfall railway stations under the northern, western, eastern and southern regions.

The process for floating tenders for wifi connections at 7,700 rural railway stations is also underway.