Indian Army will soon have an oxygen room on top of the world to acclimatize troops to the high altitude conditions. Till now, soldiers used to take almost a week to adapt to the conditions in Siachen and Leh.
Now onwards, rushing troops to an altitude of 11,000 feet and putting them into action will take just 2-3 hours with the help of the oxygen room. The DRDO has developed the oxygen-enriched room for rapid induction of the soldiers who had to wait for a week for adaptation before they could venture out on duty in Siachen and other very high altitude areas.
The DRDO has set up one such room at Leh and six more such facilities will come up in forward areas, including Siachen, soon.
W Selvamurthy, chief controller of research and development at DRDO, who had been at Leh recently to make the troops aware of the functioning of the facility, said, In a Kargil-like situation the Army is not given any time to adapt to the high altitude. The troops who are vulnerable to acute mountain sickness and get breathless suffer a lot during these emergencies. We will create six such rooms in the base camps of all the forward areas.
The room has been designed by Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a DRDO lab in Delhi. This room is for rapid induction of the troops to the high altitude. The percentage of oxygen does not decrease in high altitude, it is the reduction in the partial pressure which makes one feel breathless as there is decrease in availability of oxygen to the body cells at such a height, said Dr Shashi Bala Singh, director of DIPAS.
However, cautioning that the room is only for emergency situations where there is less time for the soldiers to adapt, Shashi said, The body has a natural capability of adjusting to a height up to 2500m. We recommend this room only in emergency situations. This is also for the VIPs who fly in for a day and leave immediately.
Now, an oxygen room for Army in Siachen and Leh | idrw.org
Now onwards, rushing troops to an altitude of 11,000 feet and putting them into action will take just 2-3 hours with the help of the oxygen room. The DRDO has developed the oxygen-enriched room for rapid induction of the soldiers who had to wait for a week for adaptation before they could venture out on duty in Siachen and other very high altitude areas.
The DRDO has set up one such room at Leh and six more such facilities will come up in forward areas, including Siachen, soon.
W Selvamurthy, chief controller of research and development at DRDO, who had been at Leh recently to make the troops aware of the functioning of the facility, said, In a Kargil-like situation the Army is not given any time to adapt to the high altitude. The troops who are vulnerable to acute mountain sickness and get breathless suffer a lot during these emergencies. We will create six such rooms in the base camps of all the forward areas.
The room has been designed by Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS), a DRDO lab in Delhi. This room is for rapid induction of the troops to the high altitude. The percentage of oxygen does not decrease in high altitude, it is the reduction in the partial pressure which makes one feel breathless as there is decrease in availability of oxygen to the body cells at such a height, said Dr Shashi Bala Singh, director of DIPAS.
However, cautioning that the room is only for emergency situations where there is less time for the soldiers to adapt, Shashi said, The body has a natural capability of adjusting to a height up to 2500m. We recommend this room only in emergency situations. This is also for the VIPs who fly in for a day and leave immediately.
Now, an oxygen room for Army in Siachen and Leh | idrw.org
