British army medical staff have assisted in more than 150 civilian operations in Northern Ireland to help reduce hospital waiting lists, it emerged tonight.
Military anaesthetists and nurses have helped orthopaedic surgeons carry out 160 NHS fracture operations in the military wing of Belfast's Musgrave Park Hospital.
A dramatic drop in the number of military casualties freed up theatre space to deal with the North's 60,000-plus patients on hospital waiting lists.
A spokesman for Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital tonight confirmed all the nursing and medical staff involved in the 160 operations - apart from the surgeon - was supplied by the army.
An Army spokesman said it was approached by the Eastern Health and Social Services Board in early August 2001 to see if it could assist in the battle against waiting lists.
Following a pilot project involving four patients, the scheme was extended and a further 156 procedures have since been carried out.
PA