Army's mobile surgical station on display at exhibition

Bhopal, Apr 22: Imagine sustaining a severe bullet or shrapnel wound in lethal battlefield conditions and not having medical aid at hand.

The Indian Army's mobile surgical station, which is on display at a three-day 'Know Your Army' exhibition that got underway at the local Lal Parade Ground yesterday, prevents such a nightmare from becoming a stark reality.

Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities,including ventilators, it facilitates life-saving surgery on officers and men.

Inducted into the Army Medical Corps (AMC) in 2001, in the post-Kargil scenario, the unit has not witnessed a conflict but was deployed during Operation Parakram.

''The operational effectiveness of the mobile surgical station is very high,'' Lt-Col K D Chaturvedi told UNI.

''Such a unit was required for a long time. In either war situation or exercise, someone may be in dire need of emergency service. Earlier, we had to rely on ambulances that conveyed the wounded over long distances,'' an AMC officer, who wished to remain anonymous, explained to UNI.

The station boasts of a ''containerised mobile operation theatre (OT).'' There is an air-conditioned pre-operation area, the AC main OT, AC post-operation area and a sterilisation-cum-store area. The areas are housed within four army trucks arranged in the shape of a cross with their rears opening onto a common tented platform that has ramps.

''The fifth truck has a 45-kilovolt ampere generator. The station can conduct at least a dozen surgeries daily and tackle at least four patients at a time. We have a 'Ward on Wheels' system where three more vehicles are mobilised for accommodating eight patients each. Four ramps will be attached in battle conditions,'' the AMC officer explained.

The US Army also possesses such stations but the sheer efficacy made the Singapore Army contact their Indian counterparts for the facility.

Responding to a query, the AMC officer said, ''In high-altitude areas, the station can be set up at base camps and casualties conveyed by chopper. Ten to 15 personnel are sufficient for setting up the station. At any given time, one surgeon, anaesthetist, operating room assistant staff and nursing staff are present.'' An officer of the rank of lieutenant-colonel is in charge of the unit and each of the trucks has its own fire-extinguishing system.

Providentially, there were no major casualties during Operation Parakram but ''if we wait for war, our instruments will rust. We use it as a normal OT also,'' he added.

Psychological anti-stress counselling is not done on the station but at AMC medical camps.

UNI