Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja Named Next Head of Armed Forces Medical Services

Air Marshal Sandeep Thareja, SM, VSM and Bar, currently Director General Medical Services (Air), has been appointed as the next Director General Armed Forces Medical Services with effect from the afternoon of August 31, 2026.

The Director General Armed Forces Medical Services heads the tri-service medical establishment, overseeing military hospitals, medical colleges, and health policy for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, a position that rotates among senior medical officers of the three services and carries responsibility for medical readiness across the entire armed forces, including oversight of the Armed Forces Medical College and the network of command and base hospitals that serve both serving personnel and veterans.

Thareja's current posting as Director General Medical Services for the Air Force placed him in charge of the Air Force's dedicated medical branch, covering aviation medicine, hospital administration, and health services specific to air operations, before his elevation to the tri-service apex post, a role that also involved oversight of the specialised aeromedical evacuation and high-altitude physiology work unique to the Air Force's medical requirements. Aviation medicine specialists such as Thareja typically bring into tri-service roles a close familiarity with human-factors research on pilot fatigue and high-altitude physiology, expertise that has grown more relevant as all three services have expanded operations at extreme altitudes along the northern borders.

His move from a single-service medical directorate to the tri-service DGAFMS post follows the established rotational practice under which the office is held by senior medical officers drawn in turn from the Army, Navy, and Air Force medical services, a rotation intended to ensure no single service's medical priorities dominate tri-service policy over the long term.

Thareja takes over at a time when the armed forces' medical establishment continues to expand telemedicine and specialist care access for personnel and their families across remote postings, alongside ongoing modernisation of military hospital infrastructure, an agenda that has taken on added urgency as postings in remote and high-altitude areas have grown given persistent border tensions.

As DGAFMS, he will oversee coordination between the three services' medical branches on issues ranging from combat casualty care protocols to research at the Armed Forces Medical College, a tri-service role considerably broader than his outgoing Air Force-specific charge, and one that will require him to balance the distinct medical priorities of naval, land, and air operations. The office also oversees the tri-service medical response to disaster-relief deployments, an area where military medical teams are frequently the first responders alongside the National Disaster Response Force.

His appointment takes effect from the afternoon of August 31, 2026, marking the formal handover of the DGAFMS office. The transition follows the established rotational calendar for the post, allowing the outgoing and incoming Directors General a brief overlap period to brief each other on ongoing policy matters before the change formally takes effect.