Stepping up the tempo of operations to ferry oxygen, the Navy has diverted nine of its ships to various ports abroad extending from Kuwait in the west to Singapore in the East.
Meanwhile, the IAF on Wednesday airlifted 352 empty oxygen cylinders from Singapore in its IL-76 transport aircraft to Delhi facing an acute shortage of medical oxygen.
As regards the naval effort, Deputy Chief Vice Admiral MS Pawar said here on Wednesday as part of Operation Samudra Setu-II to bring in by sea oxygen and associated medical supplies from friendly foreign country, as many as nine warships were diverted to various ports.
In the ongoing effort, INS Talwar arrived at the New Mangalore Port on Wednesday with the first consignment of 54 tons of liquid oxygen from Bahrain, officials said here. In fact, it is the first of the nine naval ships to return to Indian shores with oxygen.
“Even as INS Talwar reached our shores, another ship INS Airavat left Singapore carrying 3,600 oxygen cylinders and eight 27 ton oxygen tanks and is homebound now,” they said.
Moreover, at the western seaboard, INS Kolkata, deployed in the Persian Gulf and diverted to Kuwait for oxygen departed from there ferrying two 27 ton oxygen tanks, oxygen bottles and concentrators, they added.
INS Kolkata and INS Talwar were the first batch of ships that were immediately diverted for the task and had entered the port of Manama in Bahrain on April 30.
Giving details about the deployment, they said INS Kolkata, Kochi, Talwar, Tabar, Trikand, Jalashwa, and Airavat are at present ferrying the much-needed oxygen.
INS Kolkata and INS Talwar, initially deployed in the Persian Gulf, were diverted to Bahrain and Kuwait for the mission.INS Jalashwa was pulled from a scheduled upgrade period and deployed for fetching medical supplies. INS Kochi, Trikand, and Tabar, which were initially deployed in the Arabian Sea, were also diverted to various ports in the middle-east for loading oxygen tanks, they said.
In a related development, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)set up the 500-bed Atal Bihari Vajpayee Covid Hospital in Lucknow in record time. The hospital is equipped with 20 KL Oxygen Tank for uninterrupted supply besides dedicated power backup and bio medical and other waste management system.
The State Government played a stellar role in quick operationalisation of the facility by facilitating all major functions such as supply of essential amenities to run the hospital including oxygen, patient management and waste disposal. The hospital will provide free medicines and meals to all patients, officials said.
The hospital is being run by a team from Armed Forces comprising of doctors of many specialities along with nurses and paramedic staff.
The medical staff has been flown in from all across the country. Intensive training, quality checks of installed equipment and covid procedures and protocols have been completed prior to commissioning of the hospital.
The admission to the hospital will be controlled through an Integrated Control Centre at Lucknow established by the State Authorities.
The hospital underlines the commitment of the defence ministry and the state governments to synergise their efforts for enhancing the health infrastructure in
states to provide succour to the citizens.