Covid-19: Armed Forces to set up hospitals, oxygen care in key cities by coming week

The Defence Public Sector Undertakings are procuring 28 oxygen plants and other medical equipment worth Rs 40 crore under Corporate Social Responsibility efforts to supply to hospitals in various states as the nation struggles to cope with the sudden spurt in demand for medical oxygen with critical Covid-19 cases climbing every day.

The first four out of 380 Oxygen PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) plants being manufactured under the PM CARES fund will be deployed in hospitals in New Delhi by next week. A 500-bed hospital being set up DRDO in Lucknow will start functioning in the next two to three days. Another hospital is also being set up in Varanasi, which is scheduled to be completed by May 5.

In a meeting chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, three service chiefs and heads of other wings of the Defence Ministry on Saturday, top officials informed Singh that a telemedicine service, to be operated by health veterans, would soon begin to provide consultations to those patients who remain at home.

The Indian Army has made available more than 720 beds for civilians in various states.

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The Indian Navy has deployed 200 Battle Field Nursing Assistants to assist in various hospitals. The National Cadet Corps has deployed 300 cadets and staff at various locations in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Haryana.

Singh on Saturday directed the Armed Forces to provide all necessary assistance to the civilian administration in combating Covid-19.

Besides Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane, others who attended the meeting were DRDO chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) Surgeon Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, Deputy Chief Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) Lieutenant General Madhuri Kanitkar, and Additional Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjay Jaju, along with other senior officials of MoD.

Singh was briefed that approximately 600 additional doctors are being mobilised through special measures such as calling to duty those who had retired in the last few years.

Singh directed the Army to share the details with local administration at the state and district levels. General Bipin Rawat suggested that local military commands had to be actively engaged in assisting the civil administration.

Also Read | Covid-19: Armed Forces granted emergency powers to establish hospitals, procure materials

Within a week, the Armed forces have been granted special powers twice to enable them to establish and operate quarantine facilities, hospitals, and undertake procurement and repair of equipment, items, material stores, besides provisioning of various services and work required to support the ongoing effort against the pandemic.

The Armed Forces are transporting oxygen containers from abroad as well as within the country between places of consumption and production. While transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out several sorties from Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and within the country, the Indian Navy dispatched four ships — two to the Middle East and two to South East Asia — to transport filled oxygen containers to India.

Till May 1, the IAF has carried out 28 sorties from abroad, airlifting 47 oxygen containers with 830 MT of capacity, while from within the country, it carried out 158 sorties, airlifting 109 containers with 2,271 MT capacity. The Navy and the Air Force have also supplied nearly 500 portable oxygen cylinders from their stores to various civilian hospitals.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has set up a 250-bed hospital in Bengaluru. Another 250-bed hospital is being set up in Lucknow.