Answer by Commander Rathore: The IAF flew evacuation missions to Wuhan and Tehran to evacuate stranded Indians. Regular flights have been flown to far flung areas with medical equipment and testing samples ere brought back. C17, C130, Avro, AN-32, Dornier and MI-17 were used for this purpose. IAF airlifted essential medical supplies and commodities from nodal points to Manipur, Nagaland and Gangtok in North Eastern region; and the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Male and Nepal have also been helped in similar fashion.
Apart from the quarantine facility and keeping the trained staff at immediate notice for the help of local govt. The air evacuation pod (AEP) was indigenously designed by Naval Aircraft Yard, Kochi, under the Southern Naval Command (SNC). The AEP will be used for safe air evacuation of COVID-19 patients from remote areas like islands, and ships in a fully sealed transfer capsule, eliminating the risk of infection for pilots and evacuation teams. This will also do away with the need to sanitise an aircraft post-evacuation.
The evacuation pod, which was designed under the guidance of principal medical officer of the Naval air station in Kochi, INS Garuda, in consultation with specialists from the Naval hospital INHS Sanjivani and HQSNC, is made of aluminium, nitrile rubber and Perspex sheet. The pod weighs just 32 kg and has a manufacturing cost of Rs 50,000/-. Whereas an imported equivalent item costs Rs 59 lakhs.
Trials of patients inside AEP were undertaken on board the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and Dornier aircraft of Indian Navy at SNC and were successfully completed by 8th of April 2020. AEPs are planned for distribution across southern, western, eastern and Andaman and Nicobar Naval commands. The successful induction of the AEP will increase the Indian Navy's abilities to fight to contain the pandemic.