As a result of 'effective and good' medical services being provided by the Armed Forces Medical Services, the mortality rate of soldiers in high altitude areas like the Siachen Glacier has been considerably reduced.
"The mortality rate of the defence services in icy cold and high altitude areas had come down to just 0.1 per cent from about 60 per cent in the last few years," AFMS Director General Vice Admiral V K Singh told mediapersons in Amritsar on Friday after inspecting the military hospital of the Panthers Division.
Defence personnel manning high altitudes were being provided the best of medical facilities and medical and life saving equipment and drugs were being made avaliable to them, he said.
"Timely evacuation of the seriously ill is an important factor in high altitudes and we are doing a excellent job on this," he said.
The vice-admiral said the Medical Services were always on high alert and "could reach any affected area within two to six hours".
The Medical Services had even reached inaccessible areas hit by natural calamities, he said while refering to the earthquake of October 2005, which devastated parts of the Kashmir Valley.
