Complications of Coronary Artery Disease among Military Personnel During Military Deployment Overseas Resulting in Death: Lesson Learned from Two Cases

Abstract

Health screening is compulsory to all military personnel in Malaysia before deployment for peacekeeping missions overseas. However, there have been deaths reported due to complications of coronary artery disease during deployment. These deaths which can be prevented cause great loss to the organization and unnecessary grief to the families, including heavy financial implications to the stakeholder. We would like to report two cases of deaths due to complications of coronary artery disease among military officers during their deployment in peacekeeping missions overseas. We highlighted these cases to explore the risk factors of coronary artery disease, which could be risk-indicators to prevent overseas deployment of at-risk military personnel in the future. We also recommend some improvements to medical screening procedures, to prevent unnecessary deaths during peacekeeping missions overseas.