New Director General of Medical Services (ARMY)

Lt Gen HL Kakria has taken over as new Director General of Medical Services (Army) from Lt Gen SR Mehta who has retired. Lieutenant General HL Kakria, recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva medal did his MBBS from GSVM Medical College, Kanpur and joined the Army Medical Corps on February 14, 1972.

He did his MS (General Surgery) in 1980 and MS (Orthopaedics) in 1989 from Pune University and stood first in the University. He is an undergraduate and Post Graduate Teacher and Examiner of MS (Orthopaedics), Pune University as well as Teacher and Examiner, DNB (Orthopaedics) National Board of Examination, New Delhi.

He has published numerous research papers on Orthopaedics in different National and International journals. He was awarded Major General Amir Chand award in 1990, for the best research work done in Orthopaedics on Knee joint injuries and his work has been appreciated the world over. He is an Executive Member of Bone and Joint Decade (BJD) 2000-2010.

During his illustrious 38 years of service career, the General Officer has held various appointments such as Graded Specialist (Surgery), Classified Specialist (Surgery & Orthopaedics), Senior Adviser (Surgery & Orthopaedics) and Consultant (Surgery & Orthopaedics), in various Service Hospitals as well as Field Medical Units of the Armed Forces Medical Services.

The General Officer, in addition to being an outstanding Surgeon and teacher in the field of Surgery, has also held the senior administrative appointments such as Commandant Base Hospital, Delhi Cantt, a very busy hospital, Commandant ALC, Pune and Commandant, Command Hospital (SC) Pune, yet another busy hospital. He had held the prestigious staff appointments as Major General (Medical), HQ Southern Command, Pune prior to assuming the appointment of commandant of AMC Centre and College Lucknow where Basic Military Training is imparted to Medical Officers and Dental Officers of Army/ Navy/ Air Force as well as members of MNS and the Paramedical Staff.