Military, defence wings go in overdrive for Covid relief
NEW DELHI: As India reels under an unprecedented public health emergency, its hospitals stretched thin by a staggering number of Covid cases and deaths due to scarcity of beds, oxygen and medicines, the military and other wings of the defence ministry have been ordered to respond on war footing to fight the outbreak that has so far claimed nearly 185,000 lives, people familiar with the developments said on Thursday.
From setting up Covid hospitals to ramping up oxygen production and airlifting of medical staff and oxygen containers to liaising with states to help them deal with the rising number of daily cases, the armed forces, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) are working overtime for Covid relief, said one of the people cited above.
As many as 15,924,697 confirmed infections and 184,693 deaths (as of Wednesday) have been reported across the country since the pandemic began, according to HT’s dashboard. The most worrying factor right now is how fast daily cases are multiplying, and how the trajectory is showing no clear signs of approaching a peak.
The DRDO is among the organisations that are at the forefront of fighting the second deadly wave of Covid that has ripped through the country. It has so far set up or is in the process of setting up state-of-the-art Covid hospitals in six cities to treat more than 3,100 critical patients, said a second official.
The DRDO has set up a 500bed hospital in Delhi and converted an ESIC hospital into a 500-bed Covid facility in Patna. In addition, hospitals with 450 beds in Lucknow, 750 beds in Varanasi and 900 beds in Ahmedabad are expected to be functional soon. A sixth Covid hospital is being readied in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
The DRDO has also stepped in to address the oxygen crisis precipitated by the second wave of the disease. It has transferred oxygen generation technology to the industry, which has now started providing oxygen plants to state governments and hospitals, the official said.
The technology transferred to the industry is based on the onboard oxygen generation technology developed for the Tejas light combat aircraft. The oxygen generation plants can produce 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute.
“More plants can be supplied by the industry to cater to the hospital requirements pan-India,” the official said.
The Indian Air Force has deployed its aircraft for airlifting medical personnel, oxygen containers, oxygen cylinders, trolleys and essential medicines, an IAF official said.