Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday launched an online medical consultation platform to ensure hassle-free health services for Armed forces' personnel and veterans.
Speaking after the virtual launch, he said the online outpatient platform will ensure widespread access to quality health services in remote areas besides reducing the load on the hospitals.
"This is a very important step taken at a very critical time for the health of service personnel," the Defence Minister said even as he outlined that the Central Government was constantly monitoring the Covid-19 situation and taking appropriate steps to fight it.
He said the second wave of the disease is more dangerous and unpredictable than the first one and lauded the role of the armed forces in contributing to the national effort to meet this challenge.
He pointed out that the Central Government has taken steps to improve the supply of medicines, medical oxygen and other equipment through high-level committees and a group of ministers.
Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief General M M Naravane and Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh were among those who attended the event.
Rajnath also talked about the anti-Covid oral drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a leading laboratory of the DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad.
He said the drug has yielded good results.