From 17 to 20 April 2023, NATO's Committee of the Chiefs of Military Medical Services (COMEDS) convened its 59th plenary, in Oslo, Norway, with special sessions dedicated to the ongoing medical support for Ukraine, the NATO Warfare Development Agenda, challenges in military healthcare, NATO's CBRN responses and updates from the Strategic Commands. Participants were also able to attend an industry trade show with numerous exhibitors from medical and medical-related companies.
Opening the official plenary session, the Chair of the Committee, Major General Hodgetts, the United Kingdom's Surgeon General, welcomed participants, including the representative from NATO's newest Ally, Finland, Commodore Juha-petri Ruohola. "Finland joining NATO is good for Finland, it is good for Nordic security, and it is good for NATO as a whole - Finland brings substantial and highly capable forces, expertise in national resilience, and extensive experience in military and operational medicine as well as military trauma care", remarked the COMEDS Chair.
In a dedicated session, the Ukrainian Chief Surgeon Major General Tetiana Ostaschenko provided an update on the current situation and highlighted the ongoing requirements for medical support. The COMEDS Chair noted the recent decision from the NATO Foreign Ministers to start working on developing a strategic multi-year assistance program for Ukraine. "Support to Ukraine has been ongoing since the start of the conflict, including with medical supplies; NATO has made is clear that our support will continue for as long as it takes, and we will endeavour to increase Ukraine's interoperability with NATO, bringing it up to NATO standards, especially in the military medical domain", he added.
Participants then received updates from both the ACT and ACO Medical Advisors, respectively. In her briefing, Brigadier General Almut Nolte provided key strategic medical insights on key operational themes, including regarding the Defence and Deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic Area (DDA), SACEUR's Strategic Plan, and the development of the subordinate Regional Plans. "These new plans will allow us to move from Out-of-Area operations to large-scale territorial defence but this also means having to think about the challenges that will come with this significant change, especially for the medical domain. Today's discussions will allow us to develop a common understanding of Patient Flow Management, the related requirements and its limitations", commented Major General Hodgetts. Brigadier General Nolte also touched upon the calendar for upcoming medical exercises, such as CAMO23 Exercise in Estonia and STEADFAST JUPITER 23 later this year.
Turning to Colonel Steven Tracey, ACT Medical Advisor, who provided a briefing on Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) and the NATO Warfighting Development Agenda - both key work strands in the Alliance, which will have a significant impact upon future policy development in other areas; including the medical domain. "The future of the medical domain is being designed in parallel with the plans that are currently being developed by ACO and ACT. This pivot must enable a switch from a focus on one area of the spectrum of conflict to looking broadly across that spectrum and being prepared for the operations of the future and the treatment of the casualties, military and civilian, that may result", added the COMEDS Chair.
A number of partner nations Surgeon Generals, including Australia, Austria, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Serbia, Sweden and Ukraine, were also invited to attend different sessions. "By working with Allies and Partners, we continueto drive improvement in medical standardisation, which in turn improves the interoperability within NATO and with our partners. I am especially grateful to the NSPA for leveraging its Medical Support Partnership Programme, which will promote commonality of requirement, and simplify logistics and economies of scale when procuring and obtaining access to medical capabilities. Ultimately allowing Allies and Partners to save crucial time and concentrating resources and instruments to be more efficient, effective and responsive in the event of a crisis", underlined Major General Hodgetts.
On the sidelines of the plenary meeting, the COMEDS members were also able to attend an industry trade show, which gathered numerous exhibitors from medical and medical-related companies.
