Corona Warriors or Covid Warriors are the two terms that have become synonymous with India’s healthcare workers and others involved in the fight against coronavirus. The fact is that India is waging a war against an unseen enemy. And this is no ordinary battle.
This is precisely why the Indian military should be deployed across the country to fight this war that has prompted the Narendra Modi government to impose a 21-day nationwide lockdown. While I have argued in the past against random deployment of military for law and order breakdowns, the current situation warrants that the defence forces be deployed against coronavirus.
Countries across the world — be it the US, Italy, China, or Spain — have deployed the military directly or brought in the reserves as part of the protocol to fight coronavirus.
In India, the military has largely been confined to setting up quarantine centres to take care of evacuees from abroad. While multiple quarantine centres have come up, some more have been kept on standby as a precautionary measure.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has been roped in along with the national carrier Air India to bring back Indians stuck abroad.
It is only now that the military has been asked to test samples of suspected COVID-19 patients.
However, the need of the hour is to proactively deploy the military and use its expertise and assets to win this war against coronavirus.
Here’s why the military should be deployed across India without further delay.
Also read: There is a reason India turned to Armed Forces Medical Services when it came to coronavirus
Medics
One of the military’s biggest assets is its large pool of doctors and trained assistants. Every unit in the defence forces is equipped with medical teams whose members are trained to work in chaotic and extreme situations with minimal infrastructure.
And this is exactly what China realised. China had deployed over 10,000 military medics to virus-hit Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, where the virus was first observed.
Such was the fightback by China that the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) took over the country’s medical and essential supplies. Even the hospitals created in record time in China to deal with coronavirus were built by PLA and manned by military medics.
The Indian military has several big and small hospitals and clinics all over the country. These units are equipped with all the life-saving drugs and other infrastructure that goes into treating soldiers and veterans.
The Modi government should ensure that this large pool of resources and expertise is deployed in full against coronavirus.
An article by The Economist noted that wartime experience can also yield useful insights for civilian medicine.
“The development of mechanical ventilators to ease Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)—a potentially fatal condition in which the lungs cannot provide vital organs with enough oxygen, common in patients who die of covid-19—emerged from work during the second world war.
“In recent decades military doctors have made important contributions to advances in ventilation and intensive care,” it said.
Also read: Army starts Covid-19 testing in its hospitals, issues fresh guidelines to fight pandemic
Logistics
The military, with its large trucks, ships, transport aircraft and engineering columns, is the most equipped arm of the central government when it comes to creation of logistics.
The defence forces can be deployed to undertake the big logistics operation that is needed to fight the menace of the fast-spreading coronavirus.
The military can be used for setting up more quarantine camps across India besides testing centres. It has the ability to reach the highest and the deepest areas of habitation.
The deployment of military will take the pressure off the understaffed and over-stretched civil infrastructure.
Not only can the military be used to set up new camps but also in the creation of large community kitchens that can cater to all those unable to travel to their natives places and are stuck in shelter homes due to the lockdown.
The military can be used for awareness initiatives too, besides record keeping and other logistics.
This is precisely why the Army was deployed at currency printing centres during demonetisation. The soldiers worked round the clock, printing the new currency notes with military precision.
Also read: Military’s isolation camps on standby, Army ready to deploy facilities to fight COVID-19
Trained manpower
Another big advantage of the military is the massive pool of trained and specialised manpower that can be pressed into service in a matter of hours.
This trained manpower is the reason why the military is often deployed whenever there is any natural calamity or a crisis in civilian locations.
The military also has a system of recall by which it can ask all those who retired in the last two years to offer their services.
And yes, all eligible veterans are always open to come back and serve the nation when needed.
The military should be deployed for maintenance of lockdown if the need arises. The armed forces are known for following rules and are often the last resort in a law and order situation that the police had failed to handle. This is because people know that the Army means business.
Views are personal.