Top British military surgeons train Ukrainian medics in UK
Ukrainian medics have been receiving training in reconstructive surgery from leading military medical specialists in the UK.
Members of Defence Medical Services and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, led by Lieutenant Colonel James Baden, trained a mixture of military and civilian personnel from Ukraine.
"I am hugely impressed by the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces' medical services, their valour and their dedication to saving lives in the most challenging of circumstances," Major General Tim Hodgetts, the UK Surgeon General and Chair of the Committee of Surgeon Generals in Nato, said.
"In an increasingly abstract world dominated by digital and technology innovation, we still need surgeons with exquisite practical skills to treat the complex and disfiguring wounds of physical combat."
The training was carried out at the Freeman Hospital and Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where surgical operations could be observed in an NHS theatre.
Further training will be taking place at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM), based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where injured military personnel evacuated from overseas are treated.
At the RCDM, defence personnel are fully integrated with NHS staff to treat both military and civilian patients.
"Sharing medical skills and expertise amongst allies is the right thing to do," Maj Gen Hodgetts explained.
"Both military and civilians injured in Ukraine have similar injury patterns, so sharing the expertise to enhance all patient outcomes equally is also right in this circumstance.
"Military and civil collaboration is at the very heart of Nato’s new Medical Support Capstone Concept."
The Nato Medical Support Capstone Concept (NMSCC) is the organisation's first-ever strategic medical concept.
It aims to boost Nato's medical capabilities through to 2040 in alliance missions across many different conflicts.
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