India to mobilize retired Army doctors to fight coronavirus

The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the India, General Bipin Rawat, announced this Monday to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that retired Army doctors will be mobilized to combat the crisis of the coronavirus, which has worsened in recent weeks, with record numbers of infections daily.

“The Chief of the General Staff has communicated to the Prime Minister that the medical personnel of the Armed Forces who retired during the last two years will be summoned to work in treatment institutions of the COVID-19”, the Ministry of Defense has informed.

“Those who retired before have also been asked to make themselves available for consultation through the medical emergency help lines”, adds the Defense statement to which the newspaper ‘The Indian Express’ has had access.

In the same way, and given the lack of oxygen cylinders in the country’s hospitals, Rawat has also communicated to the Prime Minister Modi what “The oxygen cylinders available to the Armed Forces in various facilities will be delivered to hospitals”.

People unwrap oxygen cylinders at a coronavirus care center in Mumbai on April 26, 2021.

The Ministry of Defense statement also details that the Army is “Creating medical facilities” with which “Make the military medical infrastructure available to civil society”.

This Monday, for the fifth consecutive day, the health authorities of India they have registered more than 300,000 cases in a single day, in addition to another 2,800 fatalities, thus again surpassing the record of daily deaths.

In total, more than 17.3 million people have contracted the disease, which has not been able to exceed 195,123.