Lack of military surgeons in the Hungarian Defence Forces
Szöveg: hm.gov.hu | 2010. június 23. 6:49In the opinion of Lieutenant General Tibor Benkõ, Chief of Defence Staff, in their present condition the Hungarian Defence Forces will not be able to present the combat helicopter training crew offered by the Socialist government. Moreover, there is a shortage of medical staff at the corps.
During their visit to Afghanistan, the delegation of the Hungarian MoD had talks
behind closed doors with General Stanley A. McChrystal, Commander ISAF and met
Dr. Jack Kem, Commander, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan. The commander
said in recent years they have set up a number of institutions in Kabul to train the
Afghan National Army. They have established for example the Afghan Military
Academy, the association of eight national schools, and plans are that every year
8,000 students will be admitted.
In addition to the Military Academy, there is also a military training centre, a
police academy and an air force training base in Kabul. Defence minister Dr. Csaba
Hende noted that the helicopter pilot training team he visited is already active in
Afghanistan, and it is possible that further technical experts will be sent to the Asian
country.
Lt.Gen. Tibor Benkõ, Chief of Defence Staff called attention to the fact that besides
the Hungarian unit responsible for the preparation of Mi−17 transport helicopters
− despite the contribution made by the previous Hungarian government − it is not
certain that we will be able to send another combat helicopter training team, since the
Hungarian Defence Forces do not have enough resources and professionals for that.
The situation is similar with our medical staff because there is a severe shortage of
military surgeons at the Hungarian corps.
János Deák, the chief adviser to the defence minister suggested that academies in
Afghanistan should hire Hungarian instructors to help with the training of Afghan
national forces.
On the last days of their trip to Afghanistan the delegation of Csaba Hende
had talks with Ambassador Mark Sedwill, Senior Civilian Representative for
NATO in Afghanistan, then in the company of Col. Zsolt Mikusi and Maj. Péter
Gergely the minister went to Mazar-e Sharif, where he was shown around Camp
Marmal and the hospital. Following the report of Col. (eng.) Gyula Révész, the
Hungarian commander, he attended the meeting of the personnel and met Brig.Gen.
Frank Leidenberger, the German commander of Regional Command-North.
