New Delhi:
All medical personnel who retired from the armed forces in the last two years will be recalled to work in Covid facilities near their homes, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat told Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. Briefing the PM about the preparations made by the armed forces to help in the country’s fight against the pandemic, General Rawat said oxygen cylinders available with the military will be diverted to the hospitals that desperately need the live-saving gas amid the rapid second wave of Covid infections.
Other retired medical officers have been urged to provide consultations through emergency help lines, according to a government statement.
General Rawat told PM Modi at the review meeting that all medical officers on staff appointments at the military headquarters will be deployed at hospitals to support the overburdened health workers.
Nursing staff will also be deployed to help the doctors, he added.
The CDS also said the military was creating medical facilities in large numbers and wherever possible, the infrastructure will be opened for civilians.
PM Modi also reviewed the operations being undertaken by the air force to ferry oxygen and other essentials in India and abroad.