Army offers 8,500 doctors to fight
coronavirus
By Ajai Shukla
April 04, 2020 11:10 IST
The military is 'totally prepared to stand up to the demands
made by the government and the people.'
Ajai Shukla reports.
ith the national effort against the coronavirus pandemic being increasingly
enunciated in the rhetoric of a 'war', the ministry of defence announced on
Friday the deployment of additional military medical and logistics
resources to aid government health authorities.
The MoD said that, in addition to six quarantine facilities the armed forces
have already established at Mumbai, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Hindon, Manesar
and Chennai, the military will make available 'high dependency unit' and
'intensive care unit' beds in 51 armed forces hospitals across the country.
'Some of these facilities are located at Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Kochi,
Dundigal near Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer, Jorhat and
Gorakhpur,' the MoD said on Friday.
In addition, '15 other facilities are being kept ready as standby for use, if
required,' the defence ministry added.
Sponsored
Together, these have beds for about 15,000 COVID-19 patients. Army chief
General Manoj Mukund Naravane has offered more than 8,500 doctors and
support staff to assist the anti-coronavirus effort.
As coronavirus testing picks up momentum, five viral testing labs at armed
forces hospitals, which are equipped to carry out coronavirus testing, have
been made part of the national grid.
'These include the Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi; Air Force
Command Hospital, Bangalore; Armed Forces Medical College, Pune;
Command Hospital, Lucknow and Command Hospital, Udhampur. Six
more hospitals are being equipped shortly with the resources to begin
coronavirus testing,' the defence ministry stated.
The armed forces have already handled 1,737 patients at the quarantine
centres already functioning. Of these, 403 have been released while three
positive cases -- two from Hindan and one from Manesar -- were referred to
Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi for further treatment.
Besides the military's primary function to safeguard India's territorial
integrity, it also has a secondary role 'in aid to the civil authority'.
Besides restoring law and order and civilian control in flashpoints like
Jammu and Kashmir, this requires the military to assist in controlling
natural disasters and pandemics, when called upon by the government;
The military is 'totally prepared to stand up to the demands made by the
government and the people,' Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat
told the media.
General Rawat has also offered to allow the use of military school premises
-- currently closed due to the lockdown, and subsequently the summer
vacation -- as quarantine centres for persons who have been exposed to the
virus.
The Indian Air Force has mobilised its aircraft fleet for transporting
essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment.
'So far, approximately 60 tonnes of stores have been airlifted to various
parts of the country. 28 fixed wing aircraft and 21 helicopters are on
standby at various locations across the country,' the defence ministry said.
Meanwhile, special IAF flights have evacuated Indian citizens and
transported over 25 tonnes of medical supplies.
'A C-17 Globemaster III comprising of crew, medical team and support staff
has carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies to China and airlifted 125 persons,
comprising Indian nationals and few citizens from friendly countries on its
return,' the defence ministry said.
An IAF C-17 Globemaster III has also flown to Iran and brought back 58
stranded Indians, along with 529 samples for COVID-19 testing.
Continuing India's tradition of assisting small Indian Ocean countries, a C-
130J Super Hercules aircraft flew to the Maldives with 6.2 tonnes of
medicines.
'An Army Medical Corps team consisted of five doctors, two nursing officers
and seven paramedics was deployed in the Maldives for capacity building
measures and assistance and in setting up their own testing, treatment and
quarantine facilities between March 13-21,' the defence ministry stated.
The navy has readied six warships for assisting littoral neighbours. In
addition, five naval medical teams are on standby for deployment in the
Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Defence R&D Organisation has developed a five-layered
nanotechnology face mask (called N99) and is ramping up per day
production to 20,000 masks.
DRDO is also engaged in modifying ventilators so that one machine can
support four patients at the same time.
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