Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
London Daily Telegraph
January 23, 2009
By Thomas Harding and Chris Irvine
British troops wounded in Afghanistan are having to share wards with Taliban fighters, it has emerged.
Troops have arrived at the advanced medical facility at Camp Bastion in Helmand province and found themselves lying alongside their enemies.
Injured Taliban are routinely treated at the Camp Bastion Field Hospital in line with the Geneva Convention.
"My friends who were injured were waking up in the hospital to find Taliban in the bed next to them," a serving soldier told the BBC.
"A lot of people are getting injured out there, and the last thing they want to see when they come round is the Taliban on the same ward. It's just not right."
Another said they were "appalled" by the practice, adding: "I know we have to treat them under the Geneva Convention, but no one should have to wake up in the same place as someone who may have injured them or their mates."
The Ministry of Defence said the same level of care was provided for all patients at the Camp Bastion Field Hospital.
"This does sometimes include local nationals and enemy forces," a spokesman said.
"They are guarded at all times, segregated where possible, and nursed behind screens to afford all patients the necessary level of care, protection and dignity.
"We provide medical care under the Geneva Convention and are subject to inspections from the International Red Cross."
Lieutenant General Louis Lilywhite, surgeon general, said he had never heard complaints about the practice from those who had been treated.
He said: "When people first come in they're usually extremely seriously injured and the number of very critical beds that are available to treat them are very limited.
"So they could well wake up to find - lying the next bed to them - a critically injured enemy combatant.
"It is the only way we can do it and it's the only way we've ever done it."
He continued: "I see our injured, I've seen them in Camp Bastion, I see them back at Selly Oak, and indeed I see them later when they're at Headley Court.
"On every occasion I ask them whether there are any issues that have troubled them and I then address those.
"No one has ever complained to me about being treated in a hospital where there is the Taliban. I've not had any complaints so far."
Lieutenant General Lilywhite added that as soon as an injured Taliban patient begins to recover, they are placed in an area of the ward where they can be screened off.
Under the terms of the Geneva Convention, all Armed Forces have a duty of care towards injured prisoners of war, and should offer them the same level of treatment as their own forces.
During the Second World War, it was not uncommon for POWs to be treated on the same wards as injured British forces.
In all, 141 British servicemen and one British servicewoman have died during the campaign in Afghanistan since 2001.
The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, earlier this week called for a re-organised larger Army to help it cope with the current strains put on military families by deployments abroad.
January 23, 2009
By Thomas Harding and Chris Irvine
British troops wounded in Afghanistan are having to share wards with Taliban fighters, it has emerged.
Troops have arrived at the advanced medical facility at Camp Bastion in Helmand province and found themselves lying alongside their enemies.
Injured Taliban are routinely treated at the Camp Bastion Field Hospital in line with the Geneva Convention.
"My friends who were injured were waking up in the hospital to find Taliban in the bed next to them," a serving soldier told the BBC.
"A lot of people are getting injured out there, and the last thing they want to see when they come round is the Taliban on the same ward. It's just not right."
Another said they were "appalled" by the practice, adding: "I know we have to treat them under the Geneva Convention, but no one should have to wake up in the same place as someone who may have injured them or their mates."
The Ministry of Defence said the same level of care was provided for all patients at the Camp Bastion Field Hospital.
"This does sometimes include local nationals and enemy forces," a spokesman said.
"They are guarded at all times, segregated where possible, and nursed behind screens to afford all patients the necessary level of care, protection and dignity.
"We provide medical care under the Geneva Convention and are subject to inspections from the International Red Cross."
Lieutenant General Louis Lilywhite, surgeon general, said he had never heard complaints about the practice from those who had been treated.
He said: "When people first come in they're usually extremely seriously injured and the number of very critical beds that are available to treat them are very limited.
"So they could well wake up to find - lying the next bed to them - a critically injured enemy combatant.
"It is the only way we can do it and it's the only way we've ever done it."
He continued: "I see our injured, I've seen them in Camp Bastion, I see them back at Selly Oak, and indeed I see them later when they're at Headley Court.
"On every occasion I ask them whether there are any issues that have troubled them and I then address those.
"No one has ever complained to me about being treated in a hospital where there is the Taliban. I've not had any complaints so far."
Lieutenant General Lilywhite added that as soon as an injured Taliban patient begins to recover, they are placed in an area of the ward where they can be screened off.
Under the terms of the Geneva Convention, all Armed Forces have a duty of care towards injured prisoners of war, and should offer them the same level of treatment as their own forces.
During the Second World War, it was not uncommon for POWs to be treated on the same wards as injured British forces.
In all, 141 British servicemen and one British servicewoman have died during the campaign in Afghanistan since 2001.
The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, earlier this week called for a re-organised larger Army to help it cope with the current strains put on military families by deployments abroad.
