30.05.2012.

17th Congress of the Military Medical Committee starts

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac opened today, in the Hotel "Continental", the 17th Congress of Balkan Military Medical Committee (BMMC) where over 250 papers on achievements in various fields of modern medicine will be presented.

Welcoming the attendees, Sutanovac stressed the importance of the BMMC initiative for the future of the region.

- This conference brings together the largest military experts of various specialties of medicine, who on this occasion will exchange knowledge and experiences and learn from each other, and that is where the greatest significance of the Balkan Committee and this Congress lies, said the defense minister, adding that the importance of the cooperation process in the region on the road to European integration is beyond doubt EU membership and the creation of the modern European states, together.

He added that the military medical experts became known during the unhappy 1990s and the civil war in the former Yugoslavia which made them into expert military doctors, nurses and medical technicians, who have demonstrated their knowledge and skills in peacekeeping missions around the world.

- This is our advantage, our particularity, and by continuing to learn and improve the common practice, it seems to me that we can really become known to the world as a region and a state whose military medical expertise can be placed at the disposal of the largest armies in the world to learn from it.

The Defense Minister noted that the defense system reform also included a comprehensive reform of the military health care system, which contributed to optimal use of available capacities, knowledge and expertise of military medicine.

- Our military doctors are recognized experts in the country and the world and they enjoy the confidence of citizens and experts - said Sutanovac pointing out that they give their full contribution to participation in peacekeeping missions around the world. He particularly stressed the participation of students of military medicine, who will be given a chance to expand their knowledge and friendship at this conference.

President of BMMC Col. Djoko Maksic said that the promotion of the Committee in recent years has contributed to its importance, as well as to the development of better relations in the field of military medicine, including strengthening traditionally friendly relations between countries.

The chairman of the BMMC Congress Colonel Zoran Popovic presented it as a political reality and an inseparable part of the process of European integration. He also believes that the reputation of BMMC is a result of its long tradition and experience of warfare in this region which, according to him, was very important for the Serbian medical teams - participants in peacekeeping missions of the EU and UN.

He pointed out that while at the same time the conference of the Chiefs of military medical services in the region and the Chiefs of Military Medical Academies, where the topic will be forming a "Balkan medical task forces," the exchange and training capacity in the region, as well as the exchange of telemedicine-related information..

Speaking about the significance of today's meeting, Chief of the MMA Brigadier Genera prof. Dr. Marijan Novakovic said that there is a need for the existence of "joint forces" to act promptly in case of disasters, accidents and natural disasters.

The participants were welcomed by the chairman of the Cheif of the Military Medical Services Committee of NATO countries and partner countries General Rob van der Mer from the Netherlands, Colonel Evgeniy Belokonski Iliev from Bulgaria, admiral Apostolos Mantidis from Greece, then Brigadier General Mihai Marius Muresan from Romania and Major General Sadetin Cetiner from Turkey.

At the BKVM Congress which is being held for the first time in our country and will last three days, the lectures will be held on vascular diseases in internal medicine, surgery and neurology, war trauma, medical aspects of exposure to extreme environmental factors, as well as modern scientific and technological aspects of CRBD protection and treatment of the injured and the sick.

The Balkan Military Medical Committee was founded by Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey in 1995. Membership was later extended to Albania and our country. Serbia, first as a candidate country became an associate member of Balkan Military Medical Committee to become a full member of this regional initiative.