Not enough done in aviation medicine field: IAF chief

Underlining that little has been achieved in the field of aviation medicine, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria on Thursday expressed his concern over youngsters not taking it up as a preferred stream.

"From the service point of view, I don't think we have done enough for the aviation medicine, and this is an area which had bothered me earlier but at that time nobody listened to me," he said at the inauguration of the three-day annual conference of the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine (ISAM) here.

"We need to really look at, as to how come the youngsters today are not taking this up as a preferred stream. I am very clear that it is because of the lack of career growth and the lack of super specialisation," the IAF chief said.

Bhadauria said as the Chief of the Air Staff he assured the aviation medicine specialists that he would "solve the problem at the earliest".

The IAF chief also spoke about the fatigue and lack of sleep among pilots due to mobile phones and social media.

"Technology has not only just revolutionised the working environment but also the social ethos and customs. Mobiles, iPads etc. are just with everybody.

And we have to find ways to discourage young pilots to stay away from this late at night. We have to find ways to recognising who hasn't had the enough sleep," said the Air Chief Marshal.

Observing that recognising lack of sleep and dealing with fatigue is an issue, which has to be understood clearly,he said these new challenges should be addressed.