US Army medic quits over troop care problems
Washington, Mar 13: The US Army's top medical officer has quit, officials said on Monday, making him the third senior figure to lose his job over substandard care of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A senior US defense official said surgeon general Lt Gen Kevin Kiley had been asked to request retirement by acting Army Secretary Pete Geren. Kiley made the request on Sunday and was immediately replaced by his deputy, Maj Gen Gale Pollock, the Army said yesterday.
Kiley was heavily criticized by members of the US Congress and the media after the Washington Post reported last month that wounded troops were living in shoddy conditions and faced labyrinths of bureaucracy to get treatment and benefits.
The problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington caused deep alarm in the Bush administration, which frequently praises the sacrifice of US troops and has said they deserve the very best care.
''I submitted my retirement because I think it is in the best interest of the Army,'' Kiley said in a statement. ''We are an Army Medical Department at war, supporting an Army at war it shouldn't be and it isn't about one doctor.'' The commander at Walter Reed has already been fired and Army Secretary Francis Harvey, the service's top civilian, resigned. Harvey's move came at the request of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, defense officials have said.
Asked about Gates's reaction to the latest resignation, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, ''The secretary of defense supports the actions that the acting secretary of the Army has been taking in dealing with this issue.'' A senior defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Geren had asked Kiley to request retirement.
''Gen Kiley agreed and submitted his paperwork,'' the official said.
As a former commander at Walter Reed, Kiley had been accused of ignoring warnings about outpatient care. Critics also charged that as surgeon general he played down the Post's reports and tried to avoid his share of blame.
Kiley disputed the allegations that he had ignored problems but apologized for general failings in outpatient care.
The Washington Post found that recuperating soldiers at Walter Reed were living in a dilapidated building infested with mice, mold and cockroaches.
The newspaper also found wounded troops forced to untangle a web of bureaucratic red tape to obtain benefits and treatment as they coped with physical and psychological trauma.
The Army says some of the problems with living conditions have already been fixed and the Bush administration has launched several reviews to examine troops' medical care.
More than 10,620 US troops in the Iraq war and more than 670 in the Afghan conflict have been wounded so seriously they were not able to return to duty within 72 hours, according to Pentagon statistics.
Reuters>