Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 5
The Armed Forces Tribunal has directed the Director General of Medical Services (Army) to hold an inquiry against a senior neurosurgeon posted at the Army Research and referral Hospital for rendering widely different opinions on the same day over the medical condition of a cadet at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, who had suffered brain injury in a boxing match.The officer, of the rank of group captain, had first opined that the cadet was in ‘shape-5’, the lowest medical category and therefore had to be invalided out. Later on the same day he gave another opinion that the cadet was in ‘shape-2’ and fit to continue in service.Remarking that the Bench was sorry to say that this is an unfortunate litigation where it found number of wrongs have been done while handling the case of the cadet, the Bench comprising Justice Prakash Tatia and Lt General Sanjiv Langer, in their order passed recently, observed a doctor can give opinion about the disability of an individual but it cannot be with such difference on the same day on the basis of the same medical examination.The Bench also said it was not satisfied with the reasons given by the neurosurgeon in his affidavit in support of his actions.It observed that the opinion of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), the army’s legal branch, was obtained for sending the petitioner back for training in spite of medical disability, for which JAG has absolutely no relevance and only doctors could have opined.The petitioner, a naval sailor who was undergoing training for grant of commission at IMA’s Army Cadet College wing can contended that he was in medical category P-5 and therefore should have been invalided out, but was asked to undertake rigorous training in spite of his serious brain injury.The Bench also observed that several medical boards were held in respect of the petitioner, each having different medical opinions and there was no board whose opinion could be relied upon.