Pranab Inaugurates Asia Pacific Military Medicine Conference

New Delhi, Mar 27 (UNI) Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today hailed the role of military medical professionals not only as healers but also as path breakers in the establishment of correct medical practices for the betterment of human race as a whole.

Inaugurating the XVI Asia Pacific Military Medicine Conference (APMMC) here, the Defence Minister said military medical resources remained the most trusted and capable forces that could be garnered to tackle explosive disease situations like SARS, Avian Influenza and the looming epidemics. ''The Armed Forces have shown the most successful paths to combat many of these scourges,'' he observed.

Complimenting the Military Medical Services as a unique national resource, Mr Mukherjee said the Armed Forces Medical Services had been frequently called upon to assist in the wake of natural disasters like earthquakes as the one on the Indo-Pak border, the devastating Tsunami that hit South Asia or the horrific Hurricane Katrina in the US. The Armed Forces Medical Services the world over were the pioneers in organized delivery of medical care as well as developing medical research worldwide, he added.

Referring to the expertise gained by Military Medical Personnel in the fields of aerospace medicine, underwater medicine and high-altitude medicine, the Defence Minister said the knowledge of these extremely demanding physiological situations and effective management of related psycho-physical problems shows the prowess as well as technological advances attained by them. He further expressed the confidence that this knowlede could be extrapolated for civilian use at a later stage.

Minister Mukherjee said independent medical research of the highest quality had always been a hallmark of military medical services. Bacterial zoonoses had afflicted military campaigns throughout history and at many times had decided their outcome.

These situations had prompted the military medical services to define basic microbiology, ecology and epidemiology of various diseases, he added.

The Defence Minister opined that life-and-limb saving surgeries pioneered by Army surgeons were still the basic building blocks of trauma-care surgery worldwide. Further, the development of nuclear, chemical and biological warfare agents by nations had opened a new vista that demanded the initiation of a military medical counter-offensive research to aid both the military and civilians alike, the Minister said.

Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, US Ambassador in India David C Mulford and Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Services Surgeon Vice Admiral VK Singh were among those present at the inaugural ceremony.

The five-day Conference is a part of a continuing series of conferences for military medical professionals in the South East Asian and Pacific region. The conference attempts to promote cooperation and fraternity among military medical professionals and advancement of the health-care facility in their respective services. The theme of the New Delhi Conference is professionalism in 'Military Medicine - Striving for Excellence'.

About 400 representatives from thirty-odd countries of the Asia Pacific region, including Pakistan and China, are participating in the Conference where a total of 257 papers would be presented over five plenary sessions.

The Indian delegates comprise participants from the World Health Organisation, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Defence Institute of Physiological and Allied Sciences and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

APMMC is hosted by one nation from the Asia pacific Zone every year. Last year it was held in Hanoi, Vietnam and the host country next year is the Philippines.

UNI DG VD BD1903