Many young men have poor health when drafted into army, report

The commission for studying the cases of violation of the statutory rules by servicemen identified shortcomings in the work of the military centers and medical commissions that examine the recruits. As a result, there are drafted young men with health problems that can aggravate during the military service, Info-Prim Neo reports. The commission that was instituted by order of Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta consists of military men, psychologists, representatives of the prosecution service, civilians, and members of NGOs. During six weeks, they visited 16 military units and institutions of the Ministry of Defense. The military men were asked to fill out anonymous questionnaires. Separate discussions were held with most of the young men to see what problems they face. The commission’s conclusions that were presented in a news conference show that a low number of servicemen report physical or moral abuses committed during the military service. Also, many of the young men who are called up have health problems. Statistics show that 102 military men were released earlier in 2012 because they were sick, while last month alone – five young men. The commission established that the living conditions of the military men are neither good nor bad. The sanitary problem is the most acute one. The soldiers wash themselves with hot water once a week. As to the food, the menus do not include fruit, juices and milk. The libraries of the national army are short of Romanian books. Most of the books are in Russian or in Latin script. Vitalie Marinuta called on the population to donate books in Romanian to the army. The commission said that Moldova needs a professional army and the young men should be drafted based on contracts so as to solve a number of problems faced by the national army.