New Delhi: The medical fitness norms for
entry into the armed forces are soon going to be more
flexible.
A comprehensive amendment to the medical fitness
criteria for new entrants in the Army, Indian Air force and
Navy is on cards to further standardise norms for the
aspirants, said Lieutenant General Naresh Kumar, Commandant,
Army Hospital Research and Referral.
"We want to standardise our norms so that a lot of
aspirants who were earlier considered medically unfit to serve
the Indian armed forces can be declared fit now after
undergoing correction procedures," Kumar said.
Already people with slight disorders of the eye, arm
or knee or with problems in gall bladder, liver and kidney are
being allowed to join the armed forces after proper treatment.
Kumar said the changes in medical criteria for new
entrants in all the three divisions of the armed forces are
being done based on the past findings.
"Aspirants, who have been found to have one or two
spots in the liver or little calcification in the kidney, eye
problem, gall bladder stone or defects in the foot or arms are
also being recruited," Major General Mandeep Singh, ADG,
Medical Research, Armed Forces Medical Services, said.
"This is only after they have undergone corrections
and their health condition does not come in the way of
effectively performing their duties," he said.
Many aspirants with gall bladder stone problem are
doing well after undergoing surgery. Those with minor eye
problems and who have undergone lasik surgery are observed for
an year and then allowed to join the armed forces, Singh said.
"Our aim is that no one with trivial disability should
be declared unfit for the armed forces. That is why this time
it is a comprehensive observation of all types of ailments and
their available medicinal or surgical cure. If treatment can
help them perform well, then why stop them. At the end we want
the best to be part of us," Major General Mandeep Singh said.
PTI
