SOUTH
ASIA MONITOR
Main navigation
Breadcrumb
3. Indian
Armed Forces now fight a different battle
Since the outbreak of the deadly
coronavirus in Wuhan, China, Indian Air Force, Army, Navy, working with the
Ministry of Defence, have proactively worked to evacuate Indian people from
some of the worst affected countries - China, Iran, Italy and Japan - and
quarantined them at their facilities to release after mandatory isolation
By Anil Bhat Apr 05, 2020
Since the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in Wuhan, China, Indian Air
Force, Army, Navy, working with the Ministry of Defence, have proactively worked
to evacuate Indian people from some of the worst affected countries - China,
Iran, Italy and Japan - and quarantined them at their facilities to release
after mandatory isolation.
From 1 February till 20 March 2020 the Air Force evacuated well over 1000
people (including five foreigners) and quarantined them at their
facilities/bases in Manesar (Haryana), Hindon (Uttar Pradesh), Ghatkopar
(Maharashtra), and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan).
As of 3 April 2020, the IAF, assisting in transportation of essential supplies,
medicines and medical equipment, has airlifted approximately 60 tonnes of
s-material to various parts of the country, with 28 fixed-wing and 21
helicopters on standby at various locations across the country.
Six naval ships are kept ready for assistance to neighbouring countries.
Five medical teams are also on standby for deployment in the Maldives, Sri
Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Naval ships continue to
remain mission deployed during the COVID-19 crisis. \
Besides the Indian Navy has set up a quarantine camp at INS Vishwakarma
at Vishakhapatnam which is fully equipped to accommodate nearly 200 personnel.
Navy has also set up isolation facilities at its premier hospital INHS Asvini
at Mumbai. The naval base, Kochi under Southern Naval Command is gearing
up to provide quarantine facilities for Indian nationals. The SNC is also
actively coordinating with the Kerala state health officials and Ernakulam
district administration to explore the feasibility of provisioning civil hotels/resorts
for quarantining.
All Army Hospitals also have been kept on alert to meet any
eventuality.
On 26 March, consequent to the announcement of the 21-days national
lockdown, SNC took a slew of measures, in consultation with the state governments
and Naval Headquarters, aimed at a two-pronged strategy to counter the
contagion COVID-19, which is to be prepared and equipped to assist civil
society in its fight against the disease and concurrently to ensure insulation
of own personnel from infection as well as availability for all duties as
required.
Ten teams of BattleField Nursing Assistants (BFNA), comprising of
non-medical personnel, have been readied at Kochi, Kerala to help medical staff
should the situation become overwhelming. Such BFNA teams are being readied at
all other stations under SNC as well. Indian Navy has implemented 'stay
wherever you are, no travel' policy with regards to its personnel on leave or
temporary duty. SNC had prepared one of its training units at Kochi as the
Corona Care Centre (CCC) for 200 Indian citizens being airlifted by the
government from different parts of the world. A separate CCC facility for
another 200 service personnel and families has been created for any eventuality
affecting service personnel. The two facilities have been prepared as per
existing directives of requiring dedicated and isolated food, toilets, medical
waste management and recreational arrangements for 14 days. The CCC will be
administered by a dedicated group of officers and personnel and a separate
Medical Care Centre of Indian Navy doctors and nursing staff, who would conduct
the medical aspects of control of the patients. Medical protocols promulgated
by the Ministry of Health are being strictly adhered to. Special sanitization
drives of public areas and education of personnel including families is also
being undertaken.
Six quarantine facilities run by the Armed Forces are currently
operational at Manesar, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Chennai, Hindon and Mumbai. So far
a total of 1,463 people, including foreigners, evacuated from COVID-19 affected
countries have been housed and observed at these centres. Of them, 1,073
persons are presently under quarantine and being provided proper care. These
include evacuees from Iran, Italy, Japan and Malaysia, besides the IAF and
medical crew. A total of 390 evacuees from China, Japan and IAF evacuation
flight crew have been discharged following completion of their mandatory
quarantine period.
In addition to the active quarantine centres, more facilities readied to
be made operational within 48-72 hours, if needed, are at Kolkata,
Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Dindigul near Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer,
Jorhat and Gorakhpur.
Interacting with media on 27 March, Director General Armed Forces
Medical Services (AFMS), Lt Gen Anup Banerji, said 28 Service Hospitals have
been earmarked as COVID hospitals for managing purely coronavirus cases. This
will include Armed Forces as well as civilian patients transferred from state
health authorities, in case their capacity is overwhelmed. He added that, as of
now, there are five hospitals across Army, Navy and Air Force which can carry
out COVID tests. These include Army Hospital Research and Referral, Delhi;
Command Hospital Air Force, Bangalore; Armed Forces Medical College, Pune;
Command Hospital (Central Command) Lucknow; Command Hospital (Northern Command)
Udhampur. Six more hospitals are being equipped shortly with the resources to
begin testing. Lt Gen Banerji also informed that, as of now, only one serving
soldier has been tested positive of COVID-19. He was on leave at his home in
Leh, taking care of his father who had returned recently from Iran and
suffering from COVID. The soldier has recovered.
Banerji added that isolation wards at peripheral hospitals have been
activated at Army formations along Line of Control and Line of Actual Control
with Pakistan and China respectively. “Intensive information, education and
communication campaigns are going on for serving personnel. Leave extension of
those on leave as well as curtailment of leave to bare minimum have been
imposed. Segregation facilities have been set up to observe troops already back
from leave from various states,” he said.
A 14-member team of medical officers and paramedical staff of Army
Medical Corps was sent to the Maldives for capacity building measures and
assist in setting up their own testing, treatment and quarantine capacities.
The team stayed in the Maldives for 10 days and returned on March 23. Lt Gen
Banerji said, apart from the Maldives, AFMS is ready to dispatch a Rapid
Response Team to Nepal for assisting them with the COVID situation there. He
added that other assistance for other countries will be provided as and when
required.
On the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), the DG AFMS
said, it is a challenge at national as well as global level, adding that
advisory for rational usage of PPE has been issued to the three services. “The
AFMS is presently geared up with adequate PPEs for use in our hospitals.
Additional procurement is also being planned to tide over crisis foreseen
during the coming weeks and months since the Armed Forces have been directed to
augment medical resources for the civil health set up also,” he added.
The AFMS has suggested setting up of medical facilities within train
coaches in case of emergency. Various advisories have been issued by AFMS on
social distancing, cancellation of courses and training, use of masks,
preventive measures to be taken at workplace and guidelines on COVID
surveillance and contact tracing.
Also on 27 March, a shipment of 60,000 face masks ordered by the Indian
Medical Association (IMA), Goa to offset the shortfall in Goa, was stuck at
Delhi as trucks could not proceed further in the current situation of lockdown.
A request for facilitating transportation of the masks to Goa was made by the
IMA president to the Indian Navy at Goa. Accordingly, an Ilyushin 38SD (IL-38),
a Long-Range Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft of the Indian Navy, was promptly
readied to depart INS Hansa for Palam Airport, New Delhi on 27 March. The
collection of the items at Delhi was coordinated by Air Force Station, Palam
and the aircraft returned to Goa with the masks the same day. On 1 April, Goa
Naval Area coordinated with the Councillor of Mangor Hill and distributed
critical supplies to families of daily wagers, migrant labourers and low-income
families at Gandhinagar. Around 1000 kg of essential provisions were
distributed to 200 families. Additionally, 600 kgs of provisions were handed
over to Goa’s Minister for Urban Development and Social Welfare Milind Naik for
distribution to families in need. Earlier, personnel of the Defence Security
Corps (DSC) and Indian Navy from INS Hansa had distributed food at several
locations in Vasco, Goa.
On March 28 it was reported that Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was
braving the COVID-19 threat to expedite construction of a bridge and undertake
snow clearance operations. They have been working relentlessly to completely
replace the Daporijo bridge (430 feet Multi-Span Bailey Bridge), the only
lifeline of Upper Subansiri district, Arunachal Pradesh, to restore lines of
communication for all 451 villages and security forces located along the China
border. The personnel of 23 BRTF (Border Roads Task Force) of Project Arunank
are, on special request from the local administration, working in full swing in
spite of the dilapidated state of the existing bridge.
Meanwhile, in Northern India, BRO is presently engaged in snow-clearance
operations on the Manali-Leh axis, day and night despite inclement weather and
COVID 19 threat to provide relief to Lahaul valley and Ladakh in an earlier
time frame. Presently Rohtang Pass and Baralachala Pass are being tackled by
four snow clearance teams. This is the first time, BRO personnel were inducted
by air to Sarchu to carry out snow clearance of the mighty Baralachala Pass.
On 01 and 02 April, IAF airlifted essential medical supplies and
commodities from nodal points to Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Mohanbari in Assam;
Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Agra in the Central region; and the Union
Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has been
tracking the spread of COVID-19 since the world media started reporting its
devastating impact in China’s Wuhan Province, took a call in the first week of
March 2020 to enhance efforts to create countermeasures to stop the spread of
the disease in India. DRDO started focusing on creating mass supply solutions
of critical medical requirements and, by the end of March, it became ready with
four different items – hand sanitizers, ventilators, facial masks and
bodysuits. DRDO is also ready with technologies for sanitising areas of
different sizes. The Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety
(CFEES), Delhi has developed two configurations of sanitising equipment.
National Cadet Corps (NCC) has offered a helping hand to civilian
authorities in the country’s fight against COVID-19 by extending the services
of its cadets nationwide. The tasks envisaged for NCC cadets include, manning
of helpline/call centres; distribution of relief materials/medicines/
food/essential commodities; community assistance; data management and queue
& traffic management.
Ex-servicemen (ESM) across the country have also risen to the occasion.
In Punjab, an organisation called Guardians of Governance, comprising 4,200
ESMs, are assisting in data collection from all the villages. Chhattisgarh
government has employed some ESM to assist police. In Andhra Pradesh all the
District Collectors have asked for ESM volunteers. Sainik Rest Houses are
being readied in Uttarakhand to act as isolation/quarantine centres if need
arises.
(The author, a strategic analyst and former Defence Ministry and Indian
Army spokesperson, can be contacted at wordsword02@gmail.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment