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Written question asked by Bob Spink (Independent (affiliation)) on Wednesday, 2 September 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 September 2009. It was answered by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Monday, 2 November 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Injuries

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have sustained (a) damage to, (b) partial loss and (c) total loss of (i) upper and (ii) lower limbs in (A) Afghanistan and (B) Iraq in each of the last 36 months; what proportion of such injuries in each category became infected; and if he will make a statement.
Original answer

[holding answer 9 September 2009]: The following table gives the numbers of surviving UK Service personnel whose injuries included those coded as a traumatic or surgical amputation, partial or complete, for either upper or lower limbs between 1 April 2006 and 30 September 2009 as a result of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. This injury code covers injuries ranging from the loss of part of a finger or toe up to the loss of an entire limb or limbs. To indicate the number with severe multiple limb injuries, those classified as "significant multiple amputees" have suffered limb amputations above the wrist or ankle on more than one limb; in other words, they have lost at least two hands or feet. Note that there were no significant multiple amputees arising from operations in Iraq in this period.

Period Afghanistan partial or complete limb amputees of which significant multiple amputees Iraq partial or complete limb amputees
April 6 - December 6 7 — 5
January 7 - December 7 14 10
January 8 - December 8 27 6 —
January 9 - September 9 32 13 0

It has since been corrected.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
498 c643-4W (499 7-8MC); 290859
Session
2008-09
Related items
Armed forces:Injuries
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Written corrections
House of Commons
Notes
Corrected on 11 November 2009 at 499 c7-8MC.
Subjects
Iraq Peacekeeping operations Afghanistan
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk