19th American-Hungarian Military Medical Conference

In his opening remarks Lt. Gen. Zoltán Orosz expressed his pleasure over seeing and welcoming some “old" acquaintances too besides encountering many new faces. In his address he underlined that the most important objective of the military physicians and health care workers all over the world is to support the troops, and that’s why their cooperation must turn into a multinational mission. He pointed out that the conference program includes all fields of medical science, from the prevention to the provision of psychological treatment to servicemen in the theatre of war. The General referred to the present narrow financial circumstances, but went on to say that the Hungarian military medical service still enjoys priority. It cannot be otherwise, as the Hungarian military physicians, health care workers have earned an international reputation, and it is not by chance either that the NATO Military Medical Centre of Excellence NATO MILMED COE) operates in our homeland. Closing his address the Deputy Chief of the MoD Defence Staff wished the experts a good day, useful exchange of ideas and a successful professional consultation.

During the conference, where the working language was English, the first presentation was delivered by Col. Med. Dr. Attila Lengyel, the Deputy Chief of the Health Department of Mod Defence Staff, and on the American side Army Col. Paula Underwood, the US Army Vice-Commander of Europe Regional Medical Command (ERCM) gave the opening lecture.

The military medical conference organised annually since 1992, beyond the medical support to the areas of operation (AOs) also embraces the activities taking place in the “hinterland". In addition to passing on working experiences, the scientific forum provides an opportunity for the further strengthening of the professional cooperation, for the exploration of the new areas of cooperation. The imparting of the experiences learned in the theatres of military operation is the token of the successful military medical activities to be implemented in the multinational environment. This is all the more important task because in the areas of operation (AOs) the military doctors have to combat not only with the extreme climatic, terrain, sanitary and epidemiological conditions, but also with the changing war tactics of the enemy forces. Moreover, the injuries differ from each other according to the AOs; their prevention, and efficient treatment calls for a new approach from the military medical health care staffs.

The importance of the international conference is shown by the fact that the scientific meeting was qualified as an accredited continuous education course not only by the military doctors of the US Army stationed in Europe, but also by the US inland health centres, so some rapporteurs came from beyond the ocean.

The participants of the five-day conference went on a sight-seeing tour in the Parliament Monday afternoon.