Indian state-owned defence industrial enterprises are ramping up efforts to produce equipment and provide services in response to the country’s sudden surge in Covid-19 cases.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 25 April that defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and the country’s network of 41 defence factories under the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) are “extending all possible assistance to … state governments in the fight against the recent spike” in cases of the pandemic.
India’s state-run defence industrial enterprises have ramped up production of health equipment in response to the country’s recent spike in Covid-19 cases. (Getty Images)
The MoD added, “In this hour of crisis, [the DPSUs and OFB] are catering to the civilian population from their existing services in co-ordination with the state governments as directed by [Defence Minister] Rajnath Singh in recent meetings.”
By way of example, the MoD said that the country’s primary aerospace company, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), has established a 180-bed “Covid care centre” in Bangalore complete with oxygen and ventilator support, and prepared two other 250-bed facilities in the same city and Lucknow. HAL has also recently set up similar facilities in Koraput and Nasik, it said.
In addition, HAL recently donated a CT scan machine – used to detect Covid-19 in patients – to a government hospital in Bangalore, the city in which it is headquartered.
The MoD added that the OFB is providing similar Covid-related care services at facilities across 25 locations in India. The MoD said that “60% of [the OFB’s] existing strength” has been set aside to provide Covid-19 related care services for the general public.
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