Army readying teams for Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan.

The Indian Army is readying separate teams to be deployed in Sri Lanka , Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan to assist those countries boost capabilities to affect rising cases of coronavirus, official sources said on Tuesday.

A 14-member Indian Army team was sent to Maldives last month to assist the island nation found out coronavirus testing laboratories and train local medical professionals to fight the pandemic. Earlier this month, India dispatched a 15-member team of Army to Kuwait as a part of bilateral cooperation between the 2 countries.

The sources said the teams for Sri Lanka , Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan are being readied as a part of India’s policy of extending hand to all or any friendly countries within the region to fight the pandemic.

India has also been playing a key role in pushing for a standard framework in fighting the pandemic within the SAARC region. At a video conference on March 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for formulating a joint strategy to fight COVID-19 within the SAARC region and proposed an emergency fund with an initial offer of USD 10 million from India.

it's understood that India has already made the contribution. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) may be a grouping comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka . All the SAARC member nations are reeling under adverse social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

 As a part of its policy to assist friendly countries to affect the pandemic, India is additionally supplying anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to 55 countries. variety of nations including the US, Mauritius and Seychelles have already received the drug. Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the US Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for COVID-19 and it's being tested on quite 1,500 coronavirus patients in ny .

The demand for the drug has swelled rapidly after India decided to lift a ban on its export. within the neighbourhood, India is sending the drug to Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, sources said.

[Source: PTI]