Armed forces to recall retired medics: CDS to PM

Military medical personnel who retired or took premature retirement during the last two years are being recalled to work in Covid-19 facilities near them, chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a briefing on Monday.

This comes at a time when the country is reeling under a public health emergency and its health care resources are stretched to breaking point.

Medical officers who retired more than two years ago have also been requested to make their services available for consultation through medical emergency helplines, the PMO said in a statement after the CDS briefed the PM, who reviewed the military’s preparations to assist in Covid-19 management.

At a meeting on April 20, defence minister Rajnath Singh asked the military to explore the possibility of utilising the services of vaccinated retired personnel to help the civil administration and states governments to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

India reported 354,709 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 17.3 million till Sunday night. A total of 2,808 deaths were reported due to Covid-19 on Sunday, pushing the number of people who have succumbed to the disease to 195,137, according to the HT Covid-19 dashboard.

The CDS told the PM that all medical officers on staff appointments at Command HQ, Corps HQ, Division HQ and similar HQs of the navy and the Indian Air Force will be employed at hospitals. “The CDS informed the PM that nursing personnel are being employed in large numbers to complement the doctors at the hospitals. The PM was also briefed that oxygen cylinders available with armed forces in various establishments will be released for hospitals,” the PMO statement said.

The PM reviewed the operations being undertaken by IAF to transport oxygen and other essentials in India and abroad. IAF on Monday ferried six empty cryogenic oxygen containers from Dubai to Panagarh in West Bengal in a C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, with the airlift of six more containers from Dubai planned on Tuesday.