Soldiers' health sickening

2003-09-30 21:58

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) spends millions of rand on sick soldiers each year, while the mortality rate is increasing so dramatically that one of the primary insurers of military personnel increased its premiums recently.

The premiums were apparently increased after the cost of death claims against the insurer in July this year was more than double the income from premiums.

Helmoed Römer-Heitman, a military expert, said the high number of deaths and sickness was probably due to the fact that the average age of South African soldiers was much higher than that of other defence forces.

More than 70 soldiers or their dependents died in July alone.

The recent SANDF 2002/2003 annual report indicated that soldiers and civilian employees cost the force about R54.6m in sick leave over this period.

- Beeld