How The Armed Forces Can Help Battle Covid

The armed forces step up in the war against the virus, but given the threat of a hostile border they may not be able to scale up from present tasks

- Sandeep Unnithan

The second wave of Covid hit India this April with a ferocity that led to a surge in infections and overstretched hospital infrastructure. In a matter of days, India turned into the second most affected country, triggering a wave of panic, despondency and high body counts. ‘Our nation is at war,’ as former army chief, Gen. V.P. Malik, described it in an April 18 tweet as the daily death toll surged past 1,300.

In the days that followed, the armed forces were brought in to plug the gaps in medical care and speed up delivery of medical infrastructure. The army has so far set up eight field hospitals with over 5,000 beds in some of the worst affected cities, including the national capital Delhi. It plans to roll out at least six more such field hospitals. Indian Navy warships have brought back ISO containers, oxygen cylinders and concentrators from the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and Singapore. The IAF’s transport fleet, including C-17 heavy-lift aircraft that can carry nearly 70 tonnes of cargo, have flown over 400 sorties within the country and abroad, airlifting 5,669 metric tonnes of oxygen containers. (ISO containers are refillable, weigh 3.6 tonnes and can store over 21,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen or the equivalent of two tanker loads.)