With the objective of social distancing to prevent spread of coronavirus pandemic, the Armed forces have decided to have bare minimum staff at their respective headquarters here. While the Army started the process on Wednesday, the IAF and Navy will implement the orders from Thursday onwards.
Meanwhile, in the national effort to look after Indians coming from pandemic affected countries, the Army on Wednesday received another batch of 273 citizens, mostly pilgrims from Iran, at its medical facility at Jodhpur. At present, the Army is looking after nearly 1,200 Indians in its various centres all over the country.
As regards the closure of the Army Headquarters, officials said here the global lock-down has affected and significantly reduced the office work be it international cooperation, training events, postings and courses besides many such other functions. The critical appointments and which includes almost 40 per cent of the office goers continued to work from home. Emergency staff including, duty official, medical fraternity, drivers, cooks and other support staff continued to work at the headquarters.
Army Chief General M M Naravane last week had reviewed the preparations for meeting the challenge of coronavirus and decided that at least 35 percent officers and 50 per cent other ranks will work from home at the Army Headquarters till March 31. The second batch will work from home from March 31 onwards. The IAF and Navy Headquarters here will also implement more or less the same system of working with bare minimum staff, they said.
Giving details about the ongoing efforts to look after the Indians evacuated from foreign countries, officials said the batch of 273 pilgrims from Iran included 149 women and six children.
The evacuees, who were transferred on IA Flights from Delhi to Jodhpur were screened on arrival at Jodhpur airport and then taken to the Army medical facility which has been designed isolation as well as mental and physical wellness which includes various activities including sports.
At present, the Army is operating medical facilities for evacuees at Manesar, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur with evacuees from Iran, Italy and Malaysia lodged in these camps. Evacuees from Wuhan and Japan have already been discharged after full protocol was observed. Over 1,200 evacuees, medical staff and air crew have so far been catered to in these facilities.
In addition, more Army medical facilities at Jhansi, Binnaguri and Gaya are kept at standby with an additional collective capacity of 1,600 in addition & those activated already. This does not include the additional capacity created and kept ready, they said.
Moreover, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has designated 285 beds for isolation wards in handling Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. Forty beds have been earmarked in hospitals at Vehicle Factory Jabalpur, thirty beds each at Metal and Steel Factory Ishapore, Gun and Shell Factory Cossipore, Ammunition Factory Khadki, Ordnance Factory Kanpur, Ordnance Factory Khamaria, Ordnance Factory Ambajhari, 25 beds at Ordnance Factory Ambernath and twenty beds each at Heavy Vehicle Factory Avadi and Ordnance Factory Medak.Setting up of Isolation ward and corresponding number of beds in OFB hospitals has been done as per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) instructions in the Cabinet Secretary's meeting on Tuesday, officials said. The OFB is also trying to produce personal protection equipment and face masks as per pilot order quantity placed by HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL), a PSU under MoHFW.