The government is preparing legislation to regulate the “field of operational medical assistance”, which will be provided by health structures established at the level of the Ministry of National Defense, given that its lack represents “a major vulnerability”.
The government regulates war medicine PHOTO Archive
“The lack of legal provisions to regulate the field of operational medical assistance creates a major vulnerability for the sufficiency of medical support during military actions or for the fulfillment of the obligations assumed within NATO in the current geostrategic context and that these elements are aimed at a public interest and constitute an extraordinary situation, of which regulation cannot be postponed and require the adoption of immediate measures by means of an emergency ordinance, for the regulation of the measures necessary to guarantee the personal safety of certain categories of people affected by military actions in peacetime, in case of armed aggression, upon the establishment of a state of siege and upon the declaration of war“, it is specified in the preamble of the normative act, made transparent at the Ministry of Health.
Several explanations are given in the explanatory note: “In order to respond to the current situation, determined by the multitude of military actions carried out on the national territory, with the involvement of a large number of soldiers, both Romanian and from other NATO countries, in order to manage situations of illness and accidents with multiple victims caused during the performance of duties of duty, it is required that by order of the heads of the ministries and institutions of the national defense system, public order and national security, beds can be allocated in the subordinate sanitary units intended for this purpose, for a limited period and depending on the extent of the military actions“, the document shows.
“Through the draft normative act, it is proposed to introduce into the contents of Law no. 95/2006, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, of a title dedicated to operational medical assistance, determined by the lack of legal provisions to regulate the field of operational medical assistance, which creates a major vulnerability for the sufficiency of medical support in large-scale operations or for the fulfillment the obligations assumed within NATO“, the Ministry of Health points out, in the supporting note
Moreover, the governors state that among the expected changes are “realizing the way of ensuring operational medicine services in order to maintain the fighting capacity of the forces by preventing illnesses, medical evacuation, rapid treatment of the sick and wounded, as well as their recovery/restoration and return to combat service during military missions/actions (…) Achieving compatibility, interoperability and complementarity between operational medical assistance and the national emergency medical system/national health insurance system.“.
Also by adopting this project would take place “the elimination of legislative constraints in order to achieve multinational medical cooperation. In the framework of multinational operations under the auspices of the UN, medical support remains a national responsibility respecting national regulations and standards“.
objectives
According to the normative act, the objectives of operational medical assistance are:
“a) medical protection of the armed forces;
b) the triage, rescue and quick evacuation of the sick and wounded;
c) establishing the diagnosis and carrying out treatment in order to protect and maintain vital functions/bodily integrity or improve the health status of the wounded and sick during military actions;
d) medical rehabilitation and recovery of wounded soldiers and civilians, during military actions”.
The principles regarding operational medical assistance will be:
a) compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law;
b) compatibility of the medical system;
c) interoperability of medical support with the civil system and with the systems within the Alliance.
The military medical-sanitary personnel is represented by active military personnel, soldiers and professional graduates who have graduated from a form of higher or post-secondary, military or civilian education in the accredited medical and pharmaceutical field, with the right to free medical practice, who have skills in operational medical assistance .
The military health auxiliary personnel is represented by active military personnel, soldiers and professional graduates without the right to free medical practice, trained and certified with specific skills in the field of operational medicine to apply first aid, nursing, medicine administration maneuvers during missions and actions in which the armed forces participate and to apply the procedures regarding the handling of the wounded during the rapid evacuation under the conditions of the operational environment
