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NATO Maritime Medical Conference Held in Cork
CORK , Ireland – Civil-Military Cooperation for Medical care of sailors at sea and ashore was the focus of the 22nd NATO Maritime Medical Conference, hosted by the Irish Naval Service and led by Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) March 26-28, 2019 in Cork, Ireland. In conjunction with the medical conference, the 46th Medical Naval Panel Plenary took place, serving as a forum to discuss naval medicine and fine tune NATO doctrine.
Navy Surgeons General and other senior medical personnel, from 26 nations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Estonia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States of America), representing NATO, Partners and other Nations, presented and discussed naval medicine topics over three days.
MARCOM Assistant Chief of Staff Support, Rear Admiral Murat Dincman (Turkish Navy) delivered the opening remarks underling the importance of MARCOM role’s as Maritime Advocate and the benefits of medical cooperation in a period of economic challenges affecting most navies.
"Improving networking and sharing knowledge and best practices in the Maritime Medical domain are key factors to increase cooperation and simultaneously insure the best treatment for our sailors at sea.” said Captain Filippo la Rosa, Medical Advisor to MARCOM and chair of the NATO Maritime Medical Conference. "The success of this conference is steadily growing, along with its importance over the years and underlines the maritime advocacy role of MARCOM in Maritime Medical Support.”
The conference included insightful lectures presented by many medical professionals including Colonel Gerald Kerr, Director of Irish Armed Forces Medical Branch, who depicted the past; present and future of Irish Armed Forces Medical Service, Dr. Johan Ullman, Swedish Navy, who underlined one popular ongoing study on fast patrol boat related injuries and Cdr Itamar Netzer, Surgeon General of Israel Navy, presented a comprehensive overview of Exercise Crystal Sea 18 during NATO Operation Sea Guardian in December 2018 pointing out the importance of cooperation with MARCOM for improving Maritime Medical Support and the ability for MARCOM also to play a significant t role as a maritime advocate in Medical Support Domain. Throughout the conference a number of Nations including Australia, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine gave presentations on their Medical Maritime Forces developments and challenges. Romania presented an update about the main Medical Exercise, VIGOROUS WARRIOR 19, to be hosted in the Black Sea Region in April this year.