Army chief has gone partially deaf in left ear

Army chief General Deepak Kapoor suffered acute deafness in his left ear because of loud noises generated by booming guns when he visited the US last year.

As a result, the army chief has been placed in a lower medical category just four months before retirement. A lower medical category indicates partial disability and entitlement to higher pensions.

Medical records accessed by DNA suggest that Gen Kapoor suffers from “noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss (bilat)”. The medical records are signed by Col WVBS Ramalingam, senior advisor in ENT and head & neck surgery at the Army Hospital in Delhi.

The doctor’s certificate, issued on November 23 last year, says during the army chief’s visit to the US in July 2009, “he was closely exposed to loud noise in the form of small weapons firing and gun firing during a counter-terrorism demo by US soldiers. The general officer also fired some of the weapons in field firing range. Since then he (has) developed acute deafness in the left ear. He was unable to discriminate (between) spoken words”.

The doctor’s diagnosis suggests that Gen Kapoor “is recommended to be fit for release from service in medical classification H2”.

A normal army officer should be in SHAPE-1 — SHAPE is an acronym for psychological, hearing, appendages (limbs), physical and eyes. The H2 classification of the army chief means he is in a lower medical category. In fact, the military sources DNA spoke to couldn’t recall another chief in recent memory who would have retired in a low medical category. A low medical category entitles the army chief to about a 20% increase in monthly pension since it is a partial disability. Gen Kapoor retires on March 31.

The army chief had undergone a surgery in the left ear in 1972 at the army hospital for otosclerosis, an unusual growth of the bone near the middle ear which can lead to hearing loss. In 1982, he underwent surgery in the right ear at AIIMS in New Delhi.    

“Subsequently, he was upgraded to SHAPE-1 since his hearing became WNL” (within normal limits). The doctor goes on to say that the army chief being “an artillery officer was exposed frequently to artillery gun firing during his long illustrious career.”

Besides, he was also exposed to loud noise during his frequent rides in choppers to forward locations. “Over the years he noticed some amount of deafness but it never posed any problem,” says the doctor.

However, the US trip overturned his good medical standards after 28 years. According to Ramalingam’s statement, a pure tone audiogram test was conducted on the army chief on November 23 when the problem was discovered.