44,000 wounded Iraq war GIs treated at US hospital in Germany

By IRNA

Berlin : Almost 44,000 American soldiers wounded during the Iraq war over the past five years have received medical treatment at the US Landstuhl military hospital in Germany, the largest medical facility outside the US, the European-edition of the US military daily Stars and Stripes reported Tuesday.


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Located in southwestern Germany, Ramstein has seen more than 50,000 injured GIs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the US death toll in Iraq has topped 4,000, according to American military officials.

Around 11,000 of those patients -or 22 percent- at the Landstuhl medical center are regarded combat injuries.

Although US military leaders allege that the troop “surge” in Iraq has been successful in Iraq, the Landstuhl military hospital has not witnessed a major reduction in the number of overall patients.

According to US military statistics, the number of inbound patients from the Iraq war has dropped from a record 771 in June 2007 to 564 in February this year.

However, US Major John Langevin, the facility’s commander, also cautioned that the number of patients historically has been down from summer to winter.

The Landstuhl medical center has traditionally been the first stop for US personnel wounded overseas, ranging from the US embassy bombings in Africa to Afghanistan and Iraq.

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