Medical relief operations by the Army Medical Corps in the flood-ravaged areas has been a great source of solace to the Health department, which lost a significant number of its health care institutions in the deluge.
About 12 medical teams from the Army’s Southern headquarters were despatched by Lt. Gen. Manomoy Ganguly, head of the Medical Corps, to join the rescue teams to provide medical cover during the floods, initially from August 8 and later on from August 18, when unprecedented flooding affected lakhs across districts.
“The medical teams were joined by two other officers, who were on leave in Kerala at the time and who volunteered to join in. In all, 14 doctors and 70 paramedics of the Army Medical Corps took part in the rescue operations, alongside Forest officials and district authorities, trudging through the forest terrain in Munnar to reach tribal hamlets and wading through waters chest-high. Our teams were there to render medical assistance at Kozhikode, Thrissur, Chalakkudy, Munnar, Idukki, Chengannur and Alapuzha,” a spokesperson for the Army Medical Corps said.
A team of three doctors and 20 para medics from Secunderabad were rendering round-the-clock service at a field hospital at Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district where the local PHC had become totally dysfunctional.
A field hospital is mobile, light, and is geared for war zones.
The medical team, including a surgeon and an anaesthetist, moves with the fighting elements in war zones and is fully equipped to perform emergency life and limb-saving surgeries.
“The light inflatable tents could be set up in minutes with a portable field lab, ECG, defibrillator, oxygen. With it, every possible emergency medical interventions could be performed soon. It could accommodate 10 to 15 in-patients. The Army Medical Corps offered to set up six such field hospitals wherever the State needed,” he said.
However, the State requested for only one such hospital. The hospital at Puthenvelikkara had thus been dealing with a lot of injuries sustained by people during rescue, infections, and complications faced by people who had missed their regular medications for various chronic conditions during the floods.
Life-threatening
There were also life-threatening situations like when a person had gone into uncontrollable seizures and he had to be rushed to a tertiary care centre, one of the team members said.
“As a member of the Army Medical Corps, I have had the opportunity to offer my services during many disasters right from Jammu and Kashmir to all across the country. But the Kerala situation was unique, for no where else have we seen such phenomenal, well-coordinated work by district and civil administrations, who were with us all the way,” he said.
Army Medical Corps has now wound up its services at Puthenvelikkara and is now preparing to set up the field hospital at Eloor, also in Ernakulam district.
