Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Monday to review the Armed Forces’ plans and operations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.
All medical staff from the Armed Forces who have retired or taken pre-mature retirement in the last two years are being recalled to serve in Covid-19 facilities near their current residence, according to the CDS briefing to the Prime Minister. According to an official statement, “other medical officers who retired earlier have also been asked to make their services available for consultation via medical emergency support lines.”
Both medical officers on staff appointments at Command HQ, Corps HQ, Division HQ, and related HQ of the Navy and Air Force will be working at hospitals, according to Prime Minister Modi.
General Rawat also told Prime Minister Modi that nursing staff are being hired in large numbers to assist doctors in hospitals, and that oxygen cylinders currently held by the Armed Forces will be issued for use in hospitals.
The CDS have stated that they are generating vast numbers of medical facilities and would provide people with potential military medical infrastructure.
The Prime Minister also went through the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) operations in transporting oxygen and other necessities in India and abroad.
Prime Minister Modi also addressed with General Rawat the possibility of instructing Kendriya and Rajya Sainik Welfare Boards and Officers stationed in different headquarters in veterans cells to organise veteran programmes to the greatest extent possible, even in remote areas.
Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force continues to fly sorties to Panagarh, Bhuvneshwar, and Jamnagar to deliver oxygen tanks. 17 oxygen tanks were brought in from Dubai by a C-19 transport helicopter. Four Singaporeans have already arrived in Panagarh. The C-17 aircraft is flying in from Dubai with six cryogenic oxygen containers and is scheduled to arrive in Panagarh by 7:30 p.m. Another six containers will be flown in from Dubai on Tuesday.
