The former director general of the army medical service today said he will give evidence against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of hundreds of veterans who claim they are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Major General Robin Short, who planned Britain's medical deployment in the Gulf war, is to be a witness in a case against the MoD next week.

Several hundred war veterans claims the MoD failed to treat them properly for PTSD, a disorder which is common in situations of war and conflict, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme reported.

Maj Gen Short said he could see no evidence that people were being followed-up once they were discharged to make sure they had better support in the community.

"When one looks on an individual case basis there is no doubt there are many who have been left severely mentally disabled by their experiences and by the way they were treated thereafter," Maj Gen Short told the programme.

"I have no doubt that more could have been done. And secondly there is no doubt in my mind that more should be and needs to be done even now.

"We should have been able to not accept that this was normal, that we should have looked at it then and thought what should we be doing to identify what can we do to help these people.

"I made representations back when I was in service as a Brigadier that there were problems and that we should look to providing treatment and I received no support.

"I don't think we put enough psychiatric resources in there and I don't think we deployed them sensibly and I don't think we were well-prepared.

"I can't actually come to terms with the fact that we did as much as we could."

He added: "I believe there will be casualties from Afghanistan and they may actually be happening already."