Covid-19 testing machinery being loaded onto Chinook at the Air Force Stations in Chandigarh on Saturday. PTI

Jammu, April 24

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday airlifted to Ladakh medical equipment weighing 1,700 kg, including bio-safety cabinets and centrifuges, which will help augment Covid-19 testing facilities in the Union Territory, officials said.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) in Jammu provided the equipment.

“The IAF’s Chinook and AN-32 helicopters airlifted a payload of 850 kg each, comprising a total of four bio-safety cabinets, two centrifuges and two stabilisers to Leh and Kargil. The items worth over Rs 1 crore were handed over by CSIR-IIIM-Jammu for the UT of Ladakh,” Jammu-based Defence PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said. Last year, CSIR-IIIM director DS Reddy had promised the equipment to Ladakh in collaboration with Sun Pharma as part of its corporate social responsibility to augment the testing capacity in the UT’s two districts — Leh and Kargil. — PTI