Medical repatriations from Operation Resolute (Bosnia)

Operation Resolute is a peace enforcement mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which commenced on 20 December 1995. During Weeks 1-26 of the operation a total of 405 British personnel were repatriated on medical grounds, out of a mean force size of 9,299. We analysed these repatriations by clinical category and according to final destination. In addition we carried out a focused analysis of the 87 medical repatriations which occurred during May 1996. 77.5% of all the repatriations in the first 6 months of Operation Resolute were for surgical conditions, and 22.5% were medical. Eighty two per cent of British soldiers were repatriated to UK, and 18% to Germany. The mean weekly repatriation rate during this 6-month period was 1.7 per 1,000 force strength. Orthopaedic conditions were by far the greatest single cause of repatriation. During the month of May there was a total of 87 repatriations, of which 12 were due to disease. These showed no consistent pattern. Seventy five of the May repatriations were due to injury and of these 29% were caused by sport, 5% by road traffic accidents, 4% were eye injuries and one was due to burns; other occupational injuries accounted for a further 27% of the total. Twenty out of the 87 personnel repatriated in May had pre-existing medical conditions, but only 35% of these had been reviewed by their medical officer prior to deployment. Medical officers should be more diligent in carrying out pre-deployment fitness screening. The routine medical surveillance of deployed troops should be targeted towards occupational causes of injury, since these are preventable and account for terminal manpower losses.