AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 7 – Panorama CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 266 of 332 The submarine carries a fully trained doctor who is also a submariner who is generally an underwater medicine specialist. He has a small two bed detention room with fully stocked medical stores. Apart from treating sick men like an outpatient procedure, he is responsible for maintaining the micro- climate onboard and also escape and rescue from the submarine. He performs the duty of a psychiatrist too and will be generally the first to smell a problem with the crew. The officers dining room can be converted into an operation theatre in a matter of minutes and can be made ready to undertake any minor surgery. An emergency appendicitis operation has been carried out on an Indian submarine Other health hazards are that of maintaining the composition of air that we breathe which has to be constantly regulated. The doctor monitors the micro climate and ensures that the oxygen levels are correct, the carbon dioxide and hydrogen levels do not go high. Besides there are other dangerous gases due to the presence of batteries. Intense smoke during fire and flooding can also cause a lot of harm and instant asphyxiation. The other main effect on crew is that their circadian rhythm gets disrupted due to disorientation of not being able to see the sun. This causes loss of appetite and sleep disruptions as submarines are nocturnal machines requiring to remain awake in dark hours. The normal practice is to advance the watches by 12 hours hence, day becomes night and night becomes day. Artificially, daylight is simulated by white light and night by red lighting. Hence this is something like jet lag and takes the human body a few days to transition to and from. Eye fatigue is known to affect those who see through the periscope. This happens due to frequent change in focus, different brightness, hazy objects and also boredom of seeing nothing. Other psychological factors that affect submariners are inactivity with no physical exercise as more oxygen would be consumed and more carbon dioxide exhaled. Then there are long periods of boredom with short periods of intense activity with sleep deprivation for two to three days at a time. One factor that always is at the back of the mind is that there is no contact with the family, lastly the sense of higher responsibility and danger to life makes a person more careful and on the edge as the risks are too high.