Aspersions about how our personnel are treated are unfortunate: Army

NEWDELHI:The Army on Saturday said “malicious and unsubstantiated” accusations were made in some quarters regarding the status of the facility visited by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the General Hospital at Leh on Friday.

In a statement, the public relations officer (defence) said, “It is unfortunate that aspersions are being cast on how our brave Armed Forces are treated. The Armed Forces give the best possible treatment to their personnel.”

The statement comes in the wake of comments made on social media platforms, which raised questions about the facility. The comments questioned why there was no medical equipment visible in the pictures. Some even suggested that the beds were put up in a conference room.

Modi on Friday made a surprise visit to Leh in Ladakh, where Indian and Chinese forces were involved in a face-off on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. After addressing soldiers, Modi interacted with those recuperating at the medical centre.

“It is clarified that the said facility is part of the Crisis Expansion capacity of 100 beds and is very much part of the General Hospital complex. The COVID-19 protocol had necessitated some wards of the General Hospital to be converted into isolation facilities. Hence, this hall which otherwise was normally used as a Training Audio Video Hall was converted into a ward ever since the hospital was also designated as COVID treatment hospital,” the statement said.