And pieces of crap like Hani al-Sibai live in a million £ home and on the dole.
There’s something really wrong when the best of the best have to pay for their own prosthetics after losing limbs in combat fighting for the home team. This shows once again just how whacky the West has become.
Soldier who lost both legs in Afghanistan blast says he’s been forced to re-mortgage his home to fund new prosthetic limbs
- Soldier who lost legs in explosion says he’s been forced to mortgage home
- Clive Smith wants to pay for pioneering artificial limb surgery in Australia
- He claims he’s been left with no choice after ‘betrayal’ by the NHS and MoD
- For 12 months he has been in a wheelchair waiting for new prosthetic limbs
‘Betrayed’: Clive Smith, who lost his legs to a bomb in Afghanistan, says he has been forced to mortgage his home to fund new prosthetic limbs in Australia
A soldier who lost his legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan says he has been forced to mortgage his home to fund new prosthetic limbs after a 12-month wait on the NHS.
Clive Smith is spending £90,000 flying 10,000 miles to Australia for an operation he hopes will allow him to walk again.
He claims he has been left with no choice because the NHS and the Ministry of Defence have betrayed him, despite pledges that injured veterans would get the best possible care.
The former sapper, who stepped on a land mine in Helmand Province in 2010, has been in a wheelchair for a year waiting for new prosthetic limbs.
Mr Smith, 30, the face of the Poppy fundraising appeal in 2012, said: ‘I’ve put my life on the line for my country and I feel let down that I am now having to put my home on the line to get the best treatment.
‘I’ve finally lost my patience with the NHS.
‘They are not looking after veterans. I’m stuck in a wheelchair with my life on hold and it’s not fair. I want to be out and about but I can’t because I’ve no legs to wear.’
Mr Smith, of Cannock, Staffordshire, will have titanium rods bonded to his bones and artificial legs screwed on in Sydney.
The process, known as osseointegration, gives amputees the sensation of walking naturally.
Mr Smith lost his legs above the knee while leading a ten-man patrol from 33 Engineer Regiment to find buried bombs in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand.
He endured a lengthy rehabilitation period but was later able to walk again with the aid of prosthetic limbs supplied by the NHS.
However, due to poor fitting he suffered agonising chafing and blistering and was unable to wear the new legs for long periods.
He had to have plastic surgery to repair skin damaged by the rubbing and for the past 12 months has been virtually housebound while waiting for the NHS to fit new casts.
Where in Sydney?