Integrating a distributed military wellness service, strengthening cooperation with the civilian sector and expanding the medical readiness of the army – these are the main reasons for the establishment of the Medical Army Command. The fresh structure is intended to improve the command and coordination of medical activities of the Armed Forces of Poland during peace, crisis and war. Its office will be in Krakow.
Colonel Arkadiusz Kosowski, manager of the Military Department of the Ministry of wellness of the MON, presented the concept of functioning during yesterday's parliamentary gathering of the Permanent Subcommittee on Social Affairs in the military Medical Army Command, whose main nonsubjective is the integration of military wellness services in the military and military-civil dimension. This is intended to destruct the dispersal of competences to date and to guarantee uniform command, planning and training in the field of medical safety of the Polish Armed Forces. The fresh structure is to be the central centre for the management of the military medical system, liable for its readiness to act in times of peace, crisis and war.
Scope and stages of development
The Medical Army Command, formally established on 19 August, will be responsible, among others, for the organisation of medical forces and means, standardisation of procedures, training of staff and cooperation with the civilian sector. The process of forming it is evolutionary and will take about 2 to 3 years.
According to Colonel Mariusz Kiszka, commander of the fresh unit, the command structure provides for between 100 and 200 posts, most of which will take planning, logistics and command positions. Part of the posts were allocated to wellness officers for substantive supervision.
The office of the Command will be Kraków, a city with extended medical infrastructure, including the 5th Military Clinical Hospital, and crucial military facilities, and there are especially peculiar military structures. As Colonel Kosowski stressed, this decision besides has a strategical dimension – the location in the country increases the safety of command in the event of a threat. A fresh military infirmary is besides created in Kraków with the planned Military Medical Institute, which is to specialize in training military and medical rescuers.
New territorial structure and cooperation with civilians
Five field hospitals (including 2 recently formed hospitals), the Centre for Epidemiological consequence of the Armed Forces and medical safety areas will be subordinate to the Medical Army. The plans are to make 16 specified areas – 1 in each voivodship – which will cooperate with civilian medical institutions, specifying the resources and number of beds needed in the event of a conflict.
During peace, military hospitals and clinics will stay under the supervision of the Department of Military wellness Service of the MON, while in the event of mobilization they will be militarized and subordinate to the Medical Army Command.
Personnel and reconstruction of military medical education
The gathering besides addressed the problem of the shortage of doctors and paramedics in uniform. Currently, more than 90% of the personnel of military facilities are civilians, so, as Colonel Kosowski pointed out, it is essential to "voluntarily" the wellness services by expanding the number of officers and encouraging military service.
Resort besides plans restoration of the Military Medical Academy as a central centre for training and investigation in military medicine. Key function in the training strategy Military Center for Medical Education in Łódź.
An crucial component of the presented concept is the Medical Legion task – a program of cooperation with civilian doctors, nurses and paramedics who would like to act for the defence without having to join the professional military service.
The financial issues of the fresh structure are to be implemented in stages, in accordance with the plan to reorganize the Military wellness Service and the program of modernization of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. The priorities included the acquisition of modern medical evacuation vehicles, the modernization of equipment and the expansion of military infirmary infrastructure, including the construction of shelters and protective retention facilities.
Modern and Resistant Medical Service of the Army
The creation of the Medical Army Command is to be a milestone in the integration of the military wellness care strategy and in the construction of a modern, effective and flexible medical safety system. The fresh structure is intended to combine military and civilian potential, ensuring readiness to act both during peace and in conditions of armed conflict. The full operational capacity of Command is expected to be achieved in the next 2 to 3 years.
