Medical shortfalls

A&E Consultants - 87% Skin specialists - 80% Consultant anaesthetists - 75%

A major conflict "would overstretch our resources and we would have to use more reservists but we could certainly manage it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

However, Dr Moonie admitted the statistics made "sombre reading" and said the government was working to increase numbers of doctors and specialists.

There are less than half the number of GPs the armed forces require; a 75% shortage of consultant anaesthetists and an 80% shortfall in numbers of specialist plastic and burns surgeons.

Low morale

Dr Moonie said there had been "a tremendous loss of medical personnel" under previous governments which had lowered morale and made it more difficult to retain staff.

"It leads to acute overstretch in staff and that is something we're trying to remedy," he told Today.

Within five years, he said, the MOD aimed to have staffing levels back to "full complement" by recruiting young doctors through cadetships, encouraging mature medical staff to transfer to the service and increasing numbers of medical reservists.

An MoD spokesman told BBC News Online that matters would also be improved by the opening of the new centre for defence medicine in Birmingham, which is due to be completed in 2001.