China seeks to overhaul high-altitude medical support for troops amid border stand-off with India
- The air force’s specially equipped Y-9 ‘flying hospital’ was deployed for the first time to transfer an injured soldier from a base in Tibet
- Military sources said the PLA was seeking to improve its medical support in remote mountain regions
China’s air force has deployed its “flying hospital” for the first time as it seeks to improve its medical support for troops amid the ongoing confrontation with India.
An aviation team from the Western Theatre Command sent a Y-9 medical aircraft to ferry a critically injured officer 5,200km (3,230 miles) from a base in Tibet to a hospital in Xian, the PLA air force announced on WeChat.
A report from Xinhua said the officer, surnamed Zhang, was injured in a recent drill and his condition was deteriorating.
A five-member medical team closely monitored the unconscious Zhang over the four-and-a-half hour flight, until they transferred him to Xijing hospital safely, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
China and India share a 3,400km border in the Himalayas that has no clear official demarcation line.
Last month a confrontation between Indian and PLA troops in the Galwan Valley – part of the disputed Ladakh region in Kashmir – resulted in the highest number of deaths in decades, including 20 Indian dead.
