India Gets First Dedicated Department of Military Medicine
New Delhi, July 29 (TNT): India on Wednesday established its first dedicated Department of Military Medicine with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurating the facility at the Command Hospital (Central Command) in Lucknow.
The department, set up under the Directorate General of Medical Services (Army), will function as the Armed Forces Medical Services’ principal academic, research and doctrinal centre for military medicine, with a focus on combat medical readiness, operational medicine and indigenous research.
Addressing the inaugural function, Rajnath said the department would strengthen national security by providing advanced medical support to troops and enhancing the operational preparedness of the armed forces.
He said the institution would develop specialised medical protocols for soldiers deployed in diverse operational environments and help prepare the country to tackle emerging threats, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) incidents.
The department will offer structured education and training in military and operational medicine and facilitate postgraduate programmes in areas such as combat medicine, combat surgery and trauma care.
It will also undertake research in disaster medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), combat psychiatry, emergency medicine, military medical logistics and technology-enabled battlefield healthcare.
The Defence Minister stressed the importance of preventive healthcare in maintaining combat readiness and called for greater use of artificial intelligence, wearable devices, predictive analytics and advanced diagnostics for real-time health monitoring of military personnel.
The department will be developed in phases, beginning with academic programmes and later expanding into Centres of Excellence for HADR and CBRNe medicine, with the long-term objective of becoming a globally recognised military medicine research and training centre.
The inauguration was attended by Chief of the Army Staff General Dhiraj Seth, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, senior military commanders and officials of the Armed Forces Medical Services.
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