Greater than 13,000 members of the British armed forces can’t be deployed as a result of they’re “not medically deployable,” a UK defence minister stated Monday.

Defence minister Al Carns stated in response to a written parliamentary query that 13,522 should not in a position to be deployed on account of medical situations throughout the military, navy, and air drive, whereas 14,350 are considered of restricted deployability and roughly 99,560 are medically match.

Nevertheless, the ex-defence minister weighed in.

“I’ll wager you {that a} huge chunk of the non-deployable, medically downgraded individuals are downgraded for dental causes,” James Heappey, who served as armed forces minister underneath three Conservative prime ministers, instructed Occasions Radio.

“And what that tends to imply is that they’ve not had a dental check-up within the final six months, and so they’re routinely declared dentally unfit, and subsequently not totally deployable.”

Heappey’s assertion was broadly reported by the British media.

Based on Forces Information, personnel who’re deemed “medically non-deployable” can nonetheless take part in UK-based workout routines and might work for at the very least 32.5 hours per week. Nevertheless, lots of the hundreds of personnel who’re medically downgraded annually should go on and be totally recovered to be licensed totally match for obligation once more.