New Delhi: Army Chief Deepak Kapoor suffers
from hearing impairment after exposure to heavy booming sound
of artillery guns during a demonstration on anti-terror
operation in the US in July last year.
The disability, which puts him in a low medical category,
will fetch him 20 per cent extra pension after his
superannuation in March, Army sources said.
Kapoor realised about his hearing impairment after he
underwent examination at the Army Research and Referral
Hospital in November last year.
The sources said the General visited the hospital after
he experienced difficulty in hearing in his left ear.
Kapoor told the doctors that he had been experiencing
problems in hearing in the left ear ever since his visit to
the US in July last year.
He said that it could be because of exposure to booming
sounds of small weapons and gunfire during a demonstration by
US troops on anti-terror operations. Kapoor himself had fired
from a few weapons during the demonstration.
The Army chief had also told the doctors that he was
unable to discriminate spoken words following which he was
advised to use a hearing aid in his left ear.
Doctors also diagnosed that the Chief was "fit for
release from service" in the medical categorisation 'H-2'
which denotes a low medical category where he cannot continue
in service.
No other Army chief has ever been so categorised during
their tenure, sources said.
Army sources denied Kapoor would step down because of this reason. Officers have to be medically fit to hold any post.
-PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 23:42