Bengaluru, Apr 18 (IANS): The South Western Railway (SWR) zone's Hubballi workshop has produced a contactless doctors' cubicle to treat Covid-19 patients without direct contact, an official said on Saturday.

"SWR Hubballi workshop has come out with an innovative idea by creating contactless cubicles so that Doctors checking suspected Covid patients do not have direct physical contact with patients," a SWR spokesperson said in a statement.

Looking like a telephone booth of yesteryears, the transparent cubicle will enable a doctor to put his hands out through two flexible glove-like protrusions to reach the patient.

According to the railway zone, after each test, the gloves will be changed and the interior and the exterior of the cubicle sanitized.

"In spite of protocol as per medical guidelines being maintained in hospitals, doctors testing persons who might have been infected with the virus are prone to catch the virus," said the spokesperson.

The workshop is also producing personal protective equipment (PPE) to help frontline healthcare staff treating Covid patients.