US OFFICE OF DEFENSE COOPERATION PROVIDES MOBILE EXPEDITIONARY MEDICAL SUPPORT (EMEDS) FIELD HOSPITAL AND TRAINING

ArmRadio.am
05.02.2007 11:07

The US Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) announced that it
had provided the Armenian military with a new Mobile Expeditionary
Medical Support (EMEDS) field hospital. The hospital is a $1.2
million facility that can be deployed anywhere in the world to allow
the Armenian military to provide medical and surgical services to
its soldiers. The US ODC also held a week-long "Mobile US EMEDS
Contingency Hospital Training Course" at the Armenian Ministry of
Defense’s military hospital in Erebuni. US officers and enlisted
instructors from various medical specialties provided training on
field and garrison hospital operation concepts for 43 Armenian medical
personnel assigned to operate the EMEDS facility.

US Chargé d’Affaires Anthony F. Godfrey; General Major Melkonyan,
Chief of the Foreign Relations and Military Cooperation Department;
and Colonel Michael Michaelyan, Deputy Chief of the Military Medical
Department, participated in the ceremony. During the event, Chargé
d’Affaires Godfrey noted that this facility will be integral to
supporting future Armenian military deployments with coalition
or NATO forces, providing medical relief for humanitarian crises
related to natural disasters, and improving joint medical operations
with NATO medical services, and that it will help Armenia develop a
"niche capability" which could be of great value in multinational
operations. Lieutenant Colonel Doug Peterson, the chief of the
U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation, commented that this event marked
the beginning of intensive medical training and cooperation between
the armed forces of Armenia and the United States. He noted that
additional medical training events are already being coordinated
for later in 2007, and additional equipment for the EMEDS system is
already on order for delivery in late 2007 or early 2008.

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