Frostbite, heart ailments among job hazards for ITBP: Report

Task of guarding the treacherous and icy Sino-India border is taking a "very heavy toll" on the health of ITBP personnel as cases of frostbite, amputation, memory loss and snow blindness are being detected among them.
A report on the status of this elite border guarding force chronicles some very hard and daunting challenges faced by ITBP personnel who are at the forefront of this border which has seen numerous intrusions by Chinese troops in the past few years.
Jawans and officers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force are deployed in some of the most inhospitable terrains along this 3,488-km frontier, with their border posts ranging between an altitude of 9,000-18,500 feet amidst thin oxygen levels and a continuous threat of blizzards.

"To ensure territorial integrity of the country, troops need to walk for days together to reach their border out-posts and carry out long distance patrolling on foot covering a distance of 60-120 km in a stretch of 12-30 days in extremely difficult climatic conditions.
"Extreme high altitude coupled with rarefied oxygen and treacherous terrain take a very heavy toll on health of ITBP soldiers and often result in frostbite, chilblains, amputated limbs, memory loss, permanent high blood pressure, heart attacks, joint problems, disc dislocation, snow blindness, among others," stated the report, submitted to the Union Home Ministry to update the government of the work conditions of the about 80,000 personnel-strong force.

Giving an insight into an average day on the border posts of this frontier, the report, accessed by PTI, states that ITBP posts are "exposed to high velocity storms, avalanches and landslides, besides the health hazards of high altitudes and extreme cold (to the jawans) where temperature dips down to minus 50 degree Celsius (at many locations)."
Due to the extreme remote and difficult-to-reach border locations, the report said, ITBP personnel have to "remain deployed in posts during winter months to guard the border when the posts remain cut-off from rest of the world for almost six months due to heavy snow accumulation and inaccessible tracks, sacrificing their personal and social life," it said.