The death of two cadets in as many days in the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA) has raised concern among the parents of the cadets over the methods of training adopted by the academy. On August 18, Gentlemen Cadet (GC), Deepak Sharma, a resident of Bhatinda in Punjab at lehman hospital in Vikasnagar died. A day later another GC, Nabin Kumar Chhetri also passed away. Both these cadets reportedly fainted during strenuous 10 kilo - meter run. These two deaths have shocked the premier military training institute of the country. The parents of the GCs are naturally worried and very anxious about the safety of their wards.
The IMA on its part came out with its version on the unfortunate deaths of cadets. The communiqué informs that GCs were participating in exercise ‘Pahala Kadam’ which is a training camp for the first termers at Badshahi Bagh in Saharanpur district. During the runback seven cadets fell unwell due to dehydration.
“All the Gentlemen Cadets were administered first aid by the medical officer present at the exercise location and evacuated in specialised ambulances with paramedic support to Military Hospital, Dehradun. Gentleman Cadet Deepak Sharma whose condition was critical was however rushed to the nearest medical centre (lehman Hospital) at Vikasnagar. The individual succumbed to exhaustion and dehydration and passed away at 1:30 PM on 18 Aug despite best efforts made by the doctors. Meanwhile, the other Gentlemen cadets were shifted to Military Hospital, Dehradun where they were administered medical treatment. Gentleman Cadet Nabin Kumar Chhetri, the second individual, who was under treatment however eventually passed away at 11: 50 PM despite best efforts made by the doctors. The best medical treatment by specialised doctors both at Military Hospital Dehradun was provided and all efforts were made to treat the individual,’’ reads the communiqué.
The IMA officials claim that the remaining five GC are being treated at Military Hospital and they are stable.
The IMA officers laid wreaths for both the GCs in separate ceremonies held in the campus.
The former Commandant of Indian Military Academy (IMA), lieutenant General Gambhir Singh Negi (Rtd) said that the training programme in the IMA is highly scientific and prepared under the guidance of qualified persons and doctors. He added that the incident is very unfortunate and said that scrutiny and review of the incident must have been initiated by the army.
Another retired army officer said that the endurance levels of different individuals are different but the army never makes any compromise on the difficulty level of its training programme.
The medical experts opine that the youngsters nowadays have a very erratic lifestyle and have bad eating habits and it is being reflected on their fitness level. The Physician at the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC), Rameshwar Pandey said that many times a youngster looking fit could suffer from many diseases which could manifest later. He said that regular medical checkups reveal these problems.