Why in News?

• The Indian Navy has commissioned a naval hospital ship, the INHS Sandhani at Naval station Karanja in the Raigad district of Maharashtra.

Highlights:

• INHS Sandhani was flagged by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Western Naval Command Vice Admiral Girish Luthra and the commissioning plaque of the hospital was unveiled by Preeti Luthra, President of NWWA (Navy Wives Welfare Association), Western Region.
• The hospital has its origins as a small primary health care unit established in 1955.
• As Naval station Karanja expanded rapidly over the last couple of decades, there was a need to develop the station’s healthcare services.
• Hence the upgrade was sanctioned by the Ministry of Defence in September 2016.
• The hospital has been expanded from a 16-bed facility to a 30-bed hospital.
• The hospital is capable of providing treatment in the fields of General Medicine, Surgery, Gynaecology, Anaesthesia, Paediatrics and dental services to naval personnel at the station.
• INHS Sandhani is the tenth commissioned hospital by the Indian Navy.
• The Navy had earlier commissioned its ninth hospital ‘INHS Navjivani’ at the Indian Naval Academy in Kerala’s Ezhimala.