The government included in Thursday’s meeting agenda a GEO (Government Emergency Ordinance) defining and introducing operational medical assistance along with methods of provision in the case of military operations, in circumstances of “continuous enemy action, medical resources insufficiency, limited access to diagnostic and treatment means, austerity, extreme environmental conditions”.
Currently, Romania has no regulations for this field, which “creates major vulnerability for medical support sufficiency in large-scale operations or for fulfilling obligations within NATO”, according to project launchers.
Issues of the current medical system, according to the GEO launchers:
“The military medical system is fully integrated in the national health system, mainly governed by the health insurance regulation framework. This affects the establishment of operational medical capabilities through restrictions concerning administration, medical personnel capabilities, authorization and certification of medical bodies for treatment, coordination and funding”, states the Note of substantiation of the GEO project.
Operational medical assistance has a three-level structure:
- “tactical, consisting in triage, first aid and evacuation. This level deals especially with life-saving procedures in the tactical field, resuscitative surgery and trauma control procedures, evacuation preparation of the wounded and the actual medical evacuation;
- operative, consisting in strengthening trauma control measures, resuming medical or surgical procedures, intervention in epidemic outbreaks and medical evacuation;
- strategic, consisting in complete and complex medical assistance services, provided by fixed medical treatment bodies covering all medical and surgical specialties until recovery, by biological laboratories of strategic importance and by strategic medical evacuation means”.
Main changes
- The possibility of allocating beds in subordinate health units, intended for this purpose, for a limited period and depending on the extent of military actions.
- Introducing a title dedicated to operational medical assistance in the body of Law no. 95/2006, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, which is not currently regulated.
- Defining operational medical assistance: part of operational medical support, in view of applying provisions of art. 13 align. (1) lett. b) of the Law no. 346/2006, where it is stipulated: “training forces and commands, standardization in the military field, individual career management of military personnel, recruitment, selection and planning human resource provision, providing administrative support to education network institutions within the National Defense Ministry in accordance with the law, approving study programs and curricular documentation of military education institutions and units, establishing personnel training requirements for personal needs and the profile of graduates, the management of training military personnel in reserve in private and of physical education and sports activities in the army, psychological assistance, achieving operational medical support for the Romanian Army, religious assistance and promoting values pertaining to military tradition, military culture and civic education”.
- Establishing the field of operational medicine assistance: medical protection services of armed forces, medical evaluation, treatment and evacuation services, blood transfusion medical assistance services provided by the military medical and auxiliary personnel of the National Defense Ministry, in order to preserve, protect and save the life of its own military personnel, as well as of personnel belonging to participating forces from partner countries taking part in military actions on national territory and outside it, during missions, operations and national/multinational exercises in peacetime, in case of military aggression, and when states of siege and war are declared.
- Attaining means to ensure operational medical services in view of maintaining fighting capabilities of forces by illnesses prevention, medical evacuation, and fast treatment of the sick and wounded as well as their recovery/restoration and return to combat services during military missions/actions.
- Defining national medical capabilities in accordance with EU/NATO common defense doctrines and policies, including multinational medical bodies based on principles of modularity and leader nation.
- Achieving compatibility, interoperability and complementarity between operational medical assistance and the national emergency medical system/national health insurance system.
- Regulating the training of medical and non-medical personnel involved in saving, evacuating and treating patients (wounded and sick) during military missions/actions, so that during training programs they acquire specific skills of operational medicine in accordance with NATO standards and nationally certified based on the legislation in force.
- Eliminating legislative constraints in order to achieve multinational medical cooperation. Medical support remains a national responsibility according to national standards and regulations, within UN multinational operations.
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