Military nursing vital for Asia Pacific's safety

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Today the defence forces are entrusted with not only to protect the sovereignty and integrity of a nation. The scope has widened to peace keeping, humanitarian assistance and disaster management. Facing terror forces with hi-tech arms and ammunition the danger is more for a country's defence force, but they are prone to injuries and wounds. It is also the need of highly skilled efficient medical personnel which is the key to a smooth operation of an army, navy or an air force.

“There is a global need for the military forces to diversify their statergies in facing and elementing the enemy. These, in turn require the medical capacity to provide highly flexible and mobile support over long distances and widely diverse environments,” said Air Commodore D.M.S. Karunarathne, Director Health Services of the Sri Lankan Air Force. To keep up with requirements of the modern world, the military forces of the Asia Pacific region gather annually since 2007 to exchange their expertise, experience and update their networking.

This is the Asia Pacific Military Nursing exchange, the only multinational military nursing gathering that bonds military nurses within the Asia pacific region. “The needs of the world today demands military medical officers and nurses to be conversant with sub speciality areas of military medicine.

The annual gathering of the military forces in the Aisa Pacific region provide the forum for military medical staff to explore challenges, opportunities and gather a diverse experience to meet the demands of the modern world, he said.

On the invitation from the United States Thirteenth Air Force under the patronage of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, the Sri Lanka Air Force and the United States Pacific Air Force hosted the 6th Asia-Pacific Military Nursing Symposium from August 6-10, 2012, in Colombo, Sri Lanka at hotel Taj Samudra. In addition to the U.S. and co-host, Sri Lanka, other invited nations include Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, The Maldives, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

“This was a unique experience for the Air Force and with the guidance and blessings of the Ministry of Defence and the gracious support of the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka Army, Navy and the Police we as the Sri Lanka Air Force organised this conference of eminent medical professionals,” said Air Commodore Karunarathne.

The message that we wanted to convey was that on how we meet our targets in the health of our institutes in a high quality low key budget. If you are having enough man, material and machine one can do a perfect job but the problem with all the countries is the reduction on defence budget.

This is more important to a developing country like ours where we won a war against terrorism while saving a large number of lives and limbs of our soldiers,said Air Commodore Karunarathne.

"Sri Lanka was once called Serendib and the meaning is 'fortunate country' which is an apt description. I am happy about selecting Sri Lanka as the South Asian venue for the symposium," Major General Kimberly Siniscalchi of the US Air Force said, giving the keynote address at the opening ceremony.

“We continue to partner and lead as nursing professionals both at home and abroad. We adapt our education and training platforms based on evidence-based outcomes,” Major General Siniscalchi said.

Speaking to the Sri Lankan media Maj. Gen. Siniscalchi said that this international forum aims to enhance partnership, knowledge share and clinical experience among the participants. “This exchange initiated as the health field internationally rises with specific needs. And in the same time we need to enhance our ability to respond to disaster,” she added.

The Asia Pacific Military Nursing symposium (APMNS) is the only multinational military nursing gathering that bonds military nurses within the Asia Pacific region. The first multinational APMNS was held in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2007 and since then this annual event has validated the importance of sharing nursing visions, fostering multilateral relationships and enhancing interoperability with allied forces. The theme of this year’s symposium is “Infection Control and Traumatic Injury Management in the Military: Build Competence, Gain Confidence and Initiate Change”.

We are delighted to take part in this sort of conference, said Senior Colonels Tian Xiao Li and Lingjuan Zhang of the Chinese delegation. Senior Col. Zhang is the Nursing Director of the Changhai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University of Changai and Senior Col. Li is the officer for the Ministry of Nursing of the China.

“This is the fourth time we are participating at this program. This gave us knowledge and we get opportunities to share our experience with other countries,” said Col. Zhang.

Major Kalpana Karki from Nepal, who gave a presentation of the role of a military nurse in blast injury management in Nepal, said that for them enhancing their emergency medical care is useful to Nepal being a mountainous country. “We gain knowledge on new methodologies and systems that we are able to adopt to our systems back at home,” she said.

Sri Lanka first participated in the Asia Pacific Nursing Exchange program at the fifth conference held in Bangkok, Thailand. Two Air Force personnel Master Warrant Officers Chandima Gamage and Mangalanath Kamburugoda participated. “The experience we gained was immense and it greatly helped us enhance our knowledge and expertise in the field,” Master Warrant Officer Gamage said.

The annual event has validated the importance of sharing nursing visions, fostering multi lateral relationships and enhancing interoperability with allied forces.

This year, the event co-hosted by Sri Lanka Air Force is the first time that it was held in South Asia. Hosting this symposium in 2012 was a great opportunity to highlight the roles and contributions of the Sri Lankan Military Nursing Corps.