The Defence Ministry said the IAF's C-17 and IL-76 heavy-lift aircraft have started airlifting big, empty oxygen tankers from their place of use to filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of medical oxygen.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) airlifted big, empty oxygen tankers and containers to various filling stations across the country on Friday to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.
Officials said the IAF also airlifted doctors and nursing staff from Kochi, Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Bengaluru for various hospitals in Delhi, besides transporting essential medicines as well as equipment required by the designated COVID-19 hospitals in various parts of the country.
India is struggling with a second wave of the coronavirus infection and hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds in view of a rising number of COVID-19 cases.
The officials said the IAF deployed its transport aircraft C-17, C-130J, IL-76, An-32 and Avro while keeping its Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters on standby.
The Defence Ministry said the IAF's C-17 and IL-76 heavy-lift aircraft have started airlifting big, empty oxygen tankers from their place of use to filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of medical oxygen.
In addition to this, the C-17 and IL-76 have transported a large quantity of load comprising bio-safety cabinets and autoclave machines for the setting up of an additional COVID test facility at Leh (in Ladakh)," it added.
The oxygen containers will be transported by road or rail to various hospitals once they are refilled, the officials said.
The officials said eight empty cryogenic oxygen containers were airlifted from Begumpet in Telangana to Bhubaneshwar by a C17 aircraft while one empty cryogenic container was transported from Indore to Jamnagar.
Personnel and equipment of the IAF Rapid Action Medical Team (RAMT) were airlifted from Jorhat in Assam to Hindan in Ghaziabad by a C130 transport aircraft.
The ministry said the IAF's transport aircraft and helicopter assets are on standby to be deployed at a short notice.
