“Our son has a heart defect and allergies, but the Department of Defense has drafted him into the military.” Alert

News.am editorial office received a report from a citizen that his relative’s 18-year-old son was drafted into the army yesterday despite having health problems.

The citizen, whose name we have requested not to be released, claimed the boy suffered from a heart defect and allergies, which were confirmed by two medical examinations but denied by the last one. The parents are convinced that the boy has health problems and they question how they came to such a conclusion.

“The medical examination showed that the recruit had a heart defect and allergies. Another investigation also confirmed these problems. However, we don’t know how the third examination showed that the boy was healthy and could go to serve. The parents said: If he is healthy, I want his son to serve, but if he is sick, I don’t want him to go. The boy joined the army yesterday and he is already in the army. We appealed the decision and we encountered many obstacles during that time. The military commission did not accept appeals, and then without identifying data, they took only a complaint form and took it away. However, the Central Military Commission confirmed that our son had health problems: allergies and heart defects, but even with the confirmation, he was taken to the army.”

The parents will file a report with the Attorney General’s Office. “We will not leave like this, we will first file a criminal report against the doctors who gave such a conclusion, as if our son was healthy, and even in the end, when the health problems were confirmed, they still drafted him into the army.”

In response to the incident, the Ministry of Defense explained as follows: “The conscript was sent for a preliminary medical examination and a supplementary examination and after examination by the competent medical board, he was deemed fit for military service.”