NATO Joint Medical Support - Reality and Vision
Abstract
The principal Cold War role of NATO's medical services was to be prepared for the treatment and evacuation of large numbers of battle casualties. Multinational solutions to medical support were not considered necessary or practical. The new NATO force structures and strategic concepts emphasise mobility, interoperability, sustainability, jointness and multinationality; i.e. deployment of multinational forces to any area for any mission. NATO now faces the threat of asymmetric conflict and terrorism, with the civilian society, rather than just the military, at risk of attack. Therefore appropriate Force Health Protection is a core competency. An effective and reliable military medical support system helps maintain the trust of military personnel and the wider public in the military and its political leadership. Furthermore, military medicine has broadened beyond the purely clinical to areas such as preventive medicine, medical intelligence, epidemiological surveillance and screenings, and patient regulation. Unfortunately in many nations, medical shortfalls have become a severe limitation upon their operational capability. Consequently, multinational medical support options become increasingly necessary and require more complex co-ordination at each staff level, especially after the change from long-established Cold War planning to current strategic and operational planning. Health and medical care in operations have increasingly become a responsibility of the Alliance's operational commanders and, at times, may even become the commander's main concern.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA444944
Entities
People
- Erich Roedig