bareilly indian army has been selflessly playing a significant role in indias fight against the massive covid second wave and the men in uniform are now preparing to face the third wave too with a threepronged strategy we have a threestep strategy for the third wave develop the present infrastructure by setting up more oxygen plants and improve logistics set up paediatric critical care facilities and upskilling of nursing and other medical staff to support paediatric cases through handson training and online sessions with experts major general dr sabarigirish k who is incharge of medical health facilities of indian army in uttar bharat up uttarakhand and himachal pradesh told toicovid patients under treatment in army hospitals in uttarakhand photo sanjeev gupta the armys mortality rate during the first and second wave has been far lower than the national average he addedcovid patients under treatment in army hospitals in uttarakhandthe main reasons dr sabarigirish who is an ent specialist and was a professor at the armed forces medical college earlier gave for the lower mortality rate were vaccination covidappropriate behaviour compulsory quarantine of every person returning from leaves complete suspension of all social activities zerocontact meetings unless important and regular health checkuparmy vaccination centre in bareillyall the troops were vaccinated without fail and covidappropriate behaviour is followed by everyone from top to bottom also we sent jawans on leaves in batches and upon returning they have to spend a compulsory 14day quarantine period at a separate facility and their health condition is monitored on 15th day their covid test is done and then only they are taken inside the camp said dr sabarigirishwhen asked about the prevention steps taken for black fungus disease he said there are not many authentic studies to identify the actual cause of this disease so we are emphasising on early recognition while treating covid patients we screen every patient for the symptoms of black fungus disease on a daily basis we also educate every patient about the possible symptoms of black fungus at the time of discharge from the hospital we advise them to report immediately if they find any such symptoms so that their treatment can be startedwhen asked about the medical facilities provided to army veterans dr sabarigirish said indian army is giving equal priority to veterans as they are our integral part we have formed atoot bandhan cell to address their health issues army hospitals are admitting them on priority counselling through voice and video calls are provided to the ones who need expert advice we have requested our exofficers to come early to our hospitals in case they or their family members have any medical emergency rather than delayingarmy has set up four 50bed hospitals with complete oxygen support besides various vaccination centres in uttarakhand and up patients are admitted at these hospitals through the command centre of civil administration army base workshop engineers had resurrected defunct oxygen plants in agra etawah bulandshahr and saharanpur districts on the request of civil administration