NEW DELHI – Over 2000 armed forces personnel become disabled in last tenyears with 200 adding every year, a senior doctor for the Indian forces hassaid.

Lt Gen Bipin Puri, Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Service,said the disability armed forces personnel suffer are not only related tospinal cord and limbs – one of the most commonly noticed.

Many a time there are cases of crippling of intestine and lungs due toinjury to abdomen and chest, Lt Gen Puri said.

He said in the armed forces medical service, the primary motto is to savelife by resorting to damage-control surgery.

“Every year 200 armed forces personnel suffer from serious disability. Itis a huge number. Battle injuries are of course the reason, but more of ourinjuries are because of accidents in hilly terrains, snow avalanche,” Puritold PTI, citing the data available with him for the past 10 years.

The Indian Army is engaged in anti-militancy and anti-insurgency operationsin Jammu and Kashmir and northeast India. The Army alone has more than 10lakh personnel.

Lt Gen Puri said the journey from being a disabled soldier to an abledperson is challenging and the Army has take steps to mitigate the problemsfaced by its soldiers in this regard.”There are physical, emotional,psychological and social issues involved in this,” he said.

The Army, he said, has an Artificial Limb Centre, a premier institute inPune, to address the problems related to disability of limbs.

The Army is also building five ALC sub-centres in Chandigarh and Guwahati,and a base hospital each in Delhi and Lucknow to minimize the distance adisabled soldier from the northern region may have to travel for treatment,he said.