During the First Annual International Congress on Military Medicine and Mental Health, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Nataliia Kalmykova emphasized the importance of integrating military and civilian health care systems.

She reminded that at the beginning of the year, a law was passed splitting the responsibilities between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Defense is now responsible for prehospital care, while the Ministry of Health is directly involved in medical treatment.

“I am grateful to my colleagues for the approval of combat injury clinical protocols that are founded on evidence-based medicine and will be used by every military doctor. The Ministry of Defence, for its part, has developed and approved the scope of the pre-medical assistance. This is the foundation on which a new effective system will be built," Kalmykova said.

The Deputy Minister also stressed the importance of monitoring and supporting the health of military personnel on a daily basis.

"Our military service members are mostly middle-aged people, which imposes certain peculiarities on our medical system. Therefore, battalion and brigade medical services should be able to address service members' health all the time, not just when they are wounded. That is why the interaction between the military and civilian health care systems, as well as the infection and hygiene control, are extremely important issues today," added Nataliia Kalmykova.