India winds up field hospital in cyclone-hit Sri Lanka after successful mission

Colombo, Dec 15 (PTI) A field hospital set up by India in cyclone-hit Sri Lanka wound up operations after the successful completion of its mission, the Indian High Commission here has said.

As part of Operation Sagar Bandhu, a full-fledged para field hospital along with a 78-member Integrated Task Force of the Indian Army’s Shatrujeet Brigade was airlifted to Sri Lanka on December 2 and deployed at Mahiyanganaya, near Kandy, to meet urgent medical requirements, the mission said in a press release on Sunday.

The facility catered to around 1,000 to 1,200 patients daily, it said, adding that the hospital provided critical lifesaving medical care, including trauma management surgeries.

"Over the course of its operation, the hospital achieved remarkable outcomes, treating a total of 7,176 patients, performing 513 minor procedures, and conducting 14 major surgeries, bringing relief and comfort to patients in one of the most affected areas,” the release said.

Following the successful completion of its mission, the field hospital wound up operations in Mahiyanganaya, and the team returned to India on Sunday, the mission said.

In addition to medical assistance, the Indian task force also restored critical communication links in the area last week.

An optical fibre cable (OFC), damaged by a falling tree during the cyclone, had caused a large-scale communication blackout.

Indian Army signallers undertook precise OFC splicing near a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) tower close to the field hospital and successfully restored connectivity despite adverse weather conditions and difficult terrain, the release said.

Widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse across the island nation severely strained the country's disaster-response capacity since mid-November.

India was the first country to respond to Sri Lanka’s international appeal for assistance under its Operation Sagar Bandhu.

As of Sunday, 5 pm, as many as 644 people had died, and 183 were still missing since November 16, as landslides, floods and rainfall caused widespread destruction.

While 6,163 houses were fully damaged, 1,12,171 houses were damaged partially, data from the Disaster Management Centre in Colombo showed.

A total of 22,638 families and 70,359 people were still residing at 766 shelters, the data showed. PTI CORR SCY SCY