KUALA LUMPUR: After nearly 20 years, an estimated 1,000 doctors who had served short term with the Armed Forces at the height of the communist insurgency are finally being recognised as veterans.
The piece of good news was conveyed by Armed Forces Veterans Affairs Department director-general Major Gen Datuk Wira Mohd Noor Daud to the doctors following a meeting, recently.
Armed Forces Medical Corps Veteran Officers Association president Lt Col (Rtd) Dr Jaswant Singh said that an estimated 1,000 doctors were now eligible for the Veterans Card (Kad Bekas Tentera) issued by the department that entitles them to full medical benefits at government hospitals.
“It is like a pensioner’s card issued to civil servants or military personnel who have retired from service. “The difference is that these doctors are not eligible for pensions as they did not serve the minimum number of years required, which is 21 continuous years for servicemen.
“However, Armed Forces Veterans Affairs Department recognises a serviceman even if he had served for only one day in the military and is entitled for medical benefits at government hospitals,” said Jaswant.
A majority of these doctors, he added, had served between 15 months and three years, risking life and limb to save fellow soldiers at the height of the communist insurgency from the 1960s to the 1980s.
“They were the unsung heroes of the armed forces, who led high-risk lives in torrid and squalid conditions on the frontlines in the deep jungles of our country.
“And yet, after they had completed their short-term service, they were not entitled for medical benefits,” he said after 40 former military doctors were awarded the Pingat Jasa Malaysia (Malaysian Service Medal) by Mohd Noor at a dinner at Club Aman.
Present was former Armed Forces Health Services Division director-general Major-Gen (Rtd) Datuk Pahlawan Dr Mohanadas Ramasamy.
The PJM is awarded to Armed Forces personnel who had served during the Confrontation against Indonesia (Jan 1963-Dec 1965), operations against the Communist Party of Malaya (1969-1989) and operations against the North Kalimantan Communist Party (1969-1990).
“Many of these doctors were called to serve the country as National Service Officers and later under compulsory service, in view of the shortage of medical staff with the Armed Forces then.
“Most of them were young doctors fresh after their housemanship and were literally thrown into the deep end. They suffered hardships and injuries,” said Jaswant.
Two of the doctors gave their lives for the country. Dr John Ramanathan perished in an airplane crash near Tawau, Sabah in 1970 and Dr Surinder Singh drowned during operations in Rejang River, Sarawak in the mid 1970s.