Covid-19 facilities being readied at 51 Army hospitals

NEWDELHI:Dedicated facilities are being readied for treating Covid-19 patients at 51 hospitals operated by the armed forces across the country, including in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Dundigal (near Hyderabad), Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer, Jorhat and Gorakhpur, the defence ministry said in a statement Friday.

They will have intensive care unit (ICU) beds and high dependency units (HDUs) among other things. HDUs are scaled down versions of ICUs.

The ministry said the Indian Air Force’s transport fleet has been deployed to airlift essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment. Thirty transport planes and 28 helicopters are on standby at various bases across the country to support the fight against the pandemic.

The ministry said the military is running quarantine facilities at Mumbai, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Hindon, Manesar and Chennai where 1,737 cases have been handled. Of them, 403 people have been released. “Fifteen other facilities are on standby,” the ministry said.

The 15 facilities, with a combined capacity for 7,000 people, are in cities like Babina, Jhansi, Barmer, Bhopal, Kolkata, Bhatinda, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Kochi.

Over 8,500 military doctors and support staff are ready to help the government in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. As many as 9,000 hospital beds have been prepared to meet emergency requirements. Five hospitals run by the armed forces are equipped to carry out Covid-19 tests and six more would be added to the list soon, the ministry said.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation has also come up with solutions for sanitising railway stations, hospitals, airports, isolation centres and high-risk residential areas.