From now, doctors and paramedical staff will accompany the security personnel moving out in the forests of red zone in Chhattisgarh to combat the Naxalite guerillas.
The move is aimed at providing medical care to the jawans injured while fighting the Left radical groups. As many as 130 security personnel have lost their lives this year in anti-Naxal operations--of them, most succumbed to their injuries for failing to get immediate medical relief.
The security personnel are fighting the rebels in difficult terrains in Chhattisgarh. It is impossible to rush the injured to the nearest centres immediately after any ambush as the Naxals usually lay trap to target the reinforcement.
The state government has now decided to recruit doctors and paramedical staff to accompany the force moving for operation against the Naxalites in the state, Additional Director General of Police Ramniwas told Business Standard. The state police headquarters will do the recruitment and bear the budget.
"About 67 personnel have been selected and soon advertisement will be issued for recruiting more as the government has set a target to deploy 200 doctors and paramedical personnel on job," Ramniwas said. The selected personnel are undergoing training about providing medical care in the war zone, he added.
The deployment of doctors and paramedical personnel had been pooled from three-year medical course practitioners. The course, three-year diploma course in Practitioner in Modern and Holistic Medicine, was introduced by the state government in 2000 but discontinued in 2004 due to a lack of employment opportunities.
The 1300 three-year medical course graduates have been granted the status of doctors in the state. They have been deployed in the state-run primary and rural health centres in the state.
"The doctors appointed will be of the rank of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) and will draw a salary of about Rs 15,000 per month," Ramniwas said. One doctor and a paramedical person would accompany the troop moving for any operation, he said, adding that the presence of medical team would boost the morale and confidence of the jawans.
Officials in the police headquarters believe that the Naxalites have a strong medical team back up and this is the reason why minimum casualty has been reported after any fight with the security personnel.4
