If a large-scale natural disaster were to happen, a multinational team, comprising military forces from 18 countries, can now be deployed swiftly and seamlessly to provide medical support.
This has been made possible after three years of preparation and training led by Singapore and Japan, the co-chairs of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Experts' Working Group on Military Medicine (EWG-MM).
The ADMM-Plus is a regional security framework comprising 10 ASEAN countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.
At the opening of the 3rd ADMM-Plus EWG-MM meeting held at Novotel Singapore from 9 to 11 Oct, Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Permanent Secretary of Defence, noted that the establishment of the working group three years ago marked the first time that practical cooperation in military medicine had been undertaken within the regional security framework.
"The EWG's work plan progressively strengthened cooperation, interoperability and coordination among the military medicine services of the 18 ADMM-Plus countries in HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) operations," he said.
For example, the group has developed a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) to establish a common understanding between the different operating protocols utilised by each of the countries' military medical services, enhancing coordination and cooperation in joint exercises.
To facilitate communication in times of emergency, the EWG also created a registry of key contact personnel within the main co-coordinating government agency of each country.
These emergency response protocols were put to test successfully this year at the first ADMM-Plus HADR and Military Medicine Exercise held in Brunei in June.
Rear-Admiral (RADM) (Dr) Kang Wee Lee, Chief of the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps, noted that it can be difficult for a country to manage a large-scale natural disaster alone. International help is usually needed to conduct disaster relief and medical support operations.
Citing the example of the international humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, RADM (Dr) Kang said: "This is what the ADMM-Plus EWG-MM aims to do... so that in times of crisis we can depend on each other to jointly respond to a natural disaster incident in a more effective way."
Dr Toyonori Omori, Director of Health and Medical Division in Japan's Ministry of Defense Bureau of Personnel and Education, added: "I think the EWG-MM has developed substantially as a unique platform for practical cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region."
The meeting concluded with the handover of the co-chairmanship from Singapore and Japan to Thailand and Russia. Singapore will co-chair the EWG on Counter-Terrorism with Australia from 2014 to 2017.
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