30.07.2020.

Medical Corps Day marked

Minister Vulin: You will be spoken about as legendary commanders who were with their people in the most difficult moments

The Day of the Medical Corps of the Serbian Armed Forces was marked today at the “Karaburma” Military Medical Centre. The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, the Head of the Military Health Department, Major General Uglješa Jovičić, MD, chiefs and managers of military medical institutions and temporary Covid hospitals.

On behalf of the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, the Minister of Defence, Aleksandar Vulin congratulated the members of the Military Medical Corps, saying that he congratulates them on the day when they remember their predecessors, but also the day when they are committed to memory of those who will come after them.

- The time will come when you will be spoken about as legendary commanders who were with their people in the most difficult moments, who went where it was difficult, who sacrificed themselves, their own health, their families, who did not ask “where”, “why” or “how” but only “when”. The time will come, and perhaps it has already come, when you will be written and spoken about, just like you read about your predecessors, when your names will echo legends, fighters, those who some future military doctors would want to look up to and would want to look like. In time like these, one becomes a person that people remember – said Minister Vulin.

- We failed to mark the year 1999, and your role in the defence against the NATO aggression and the civil wars in the SFRY, where you defended the Serbian people, and we must repay that debt to you. We are repaying that debt by providing you with a better position in the armed forces, better salaries, better working conditions, but we also have to repay that debt with respect and memory, by publishing a book, and making a film in memory of those events because you deserve that – said the Minister of Defence.

The times of wars and horrible conflicts are behind us and I hope they will never return, says Minister Vulin and adds that the memory of the Military Medical Corps must not perish because the Military Medical Academy provided medical care to 28,000 people during the civil wars and the NATO aggression alone.

- If you had just done that, it would still be a lot. But you didn’t just do that. Ninety percent of those who reached the military doctor, the first point of our medical service, survived, despite the wounds. If you had just done that, it would be enough and it would be worth remembering, but that was not all. You healed and protected a large number of people in the fight against the Covid disease, and you swiftly established hospitals and changed everything you had known and done in order to save people from this new and unknown threat. If you had just done that, it would be enough for gratitude and memory – emphasized the Minister of Defence.

The Head of the Military Health Department, Major General Uglješa Jovičić said that the history of the Military Medical Corps is long, eventful and rich in important dates and events.

- They say that years and life itself is not measured by days, but also by deeds. There have been many battles in these 181 years; there have been many personalities, great professionals and excellent human beings who paved the way for our development and our keeping up with the world, despite the challenges of turbulent and often harsh reality of the Balkans.

Referring to the period between the last year’s and today’s celebration of the jubilee, General Jovičić said that no one could have imagined that we would all, again as before, fight together against an invisible enemy - the SARS-Cov-2 virus pandemic, which the whole the world is fighting against.

- New challenges and new ideas have been set before the Medical Corps. Everyone in the system has shown great agility in the fight towards a common goal, and that is the preservation of human lives above all – emphasized General Jovičić, adding that, thanks to organized approach and team work, the level of creative motivation has been raised, new horizons have been opened in terms of development and results have been achieved that can even now be classified as historic.

At today’s event, incentive packages for the military health professionals who particularly distinguished themselves at work were announced.

The modern Medical Corps is based on the long tradition which started 181 years ago, on 30 June 1839, when the first staff physician was appointed by the decree which was the first official document on the work of the Military Medical Corps.

In addition to providing constant medical care to the members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, members of the Military Medical Corps participate in United Nations and European Union peacekeeping operations and in international military cooperation in the field of military health care which is very active and developed.