New Delhi: A well-coordinated team of the Indian Army conducted a medical evacuation of its injured personnel from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), Golan Heights to New Delhi on Thursday.
Notably, UNDOF is a United Nations peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria. India also participated in other UN peacekeeping missions, contributing over 2,00,000 troops and police personnel.
Multiple medical issues
Havildar Suresh R, 33, a member of the peacekeeping force, has been suffering from multiple injuries and has a medical history of 30 days. At first, the soldier was admitted to Rambam Hospital, Haifa, Israel, from August 22 to September 20. His diagnosis involved head injury, unspecified trauma, subarachnoid haemorrhage, diffuse axonal injury and hemiparesis left. Later, he was shifted to CZ (Israel side) to Level 1 Hospital on September 20.
According to the doctors, his vitals are stable and he is maintaining >98 per cent saturation at room air, GCS 10/15, while his body movements are swifter and smoother.
On Thursday, the Critical Care Air Evacuation Medical Team led by Lt Col Anuj Singh along with two trained paramedics, from Base Hospital, Delhi Cantt, airlifted the injured personnel. The air ambulance took off from Tel Aviv at 01.20 AM (IST) and reached Gujarat's Jamnagar at 10 AM (IST).
He was further airlifted to Palam, New Delhi and reached today at around 2 PM. Immediately, he was shifted to Army Hospital R&R, New Delhi.
State-of-the-art Critical Care Support
According to the Indian Army, the mission involved coordination with Indian Air Force, MEA and other agencies. "The rescue mission not only ensured that the injured soldier was evacuated to India amidst an extremely uncertain situation but also provided state-of-the-art Critical Care Support en route," according to the statement released by the Indian Armed Forces.
"The stellar efforts of the Indian Armed Forces in general and Medical Services in particular reflects the highest ethos of Armed Forces to save precious human lives even in the most difficult conditions," it added.
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