Army opens 20 bedded medical facility in Galwan

Tags: National News

The Indian Army for the first time has set up a Field Dressing Station (FDS), a 20-bed medical facility at Galwan, that will provide treatment to soldiers injured by gunshot wounds at an altitude of more than 14,000 feet.

• Important facts

• This medical facility was started two years after 20 Indian soldiers were martyred in a violent clash with the Chinese Army in Galwan, Ladakh.

• India and China have been keeping watch at several places along the undefined Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh for more than two years.

• It is capable of carrying out all types of treatments that a field hospital would have but the facilities are limited.

• The inauguration of the medical facility at such a height is significant as earlier there was no such arrangement and any patient in critical condition was either airlifted or brought down by road to the Leh field hospital more than 200 km away.

• It will have material to treat gunshot wounded soldiers or critical patients, and they can then be referred to a field hospital in Leh.

• Disputed area Galwan valley

• Galwan Valley refers to the land, which is situated between the hills present near the Galwan River.

• The source of the Galvan River is present in Aksai Chin towards China and later it meets the Shyok River of India.

• This valley is situated between Ladakh in the west and Aksai Chin in the east, due to which it is strategically important.

• Its eastern part is very close to China's Xinjiang Tibet Road, which is called the G219 Highway.

• Line of Actual Control 

• LAC is a type of demarcation line, which separates Indian-controlled territory and Chinese-controlled territory from each other.

• India believes that the length of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is about 3,440 km while China considers this line to be about 2,000 km long.