PATTAYA, 23 October 2014 - Together with Delegations from the Medical Agencies of ASEAN Member States, some Plus Countries attended the Senior Medical Planner Workshop (SMP) during 20th to 24th October 2014 in Thailand Pattaya. The SMP is 5th ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Military Medicine (EWG on MM) Meeting among the delegations from the Medical Agencies of ASEAN Member States and some Plus Countries that was intended to  implement  the ADMM-Plus EWG on MM 3-year work plan which was adopted by ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting-Plus (ADSOM-Plus) in April 2013, Brunei Darussalam.

The objective of discussion is to share ideas and help develop guideline to establish ASEAN Military Medicine Coordination Centre. The meeting touched on the experiences of MM in HADR of ADMM-Plus countries and the need for accurate medical information from affected countries and assisting countries such as POC, geography, legal system. It also discussed the objectives to establish ASEAN Military Medicine Coordination Centre, cost sharing, rotation of commander and staff officers, roles, capabilities, functions, mechanism and structures of ASEAN Military Medicine Coordination Centre. Finally, the meeting agreed to change the name from ASEAN Military Medicine Coordination Centre to ASEAN Centre for Military Medicine. The result of this meeting will be developed into the draft concept paper on ASEAN Centre for Military Medicine mechanism and structure which will be proposed to ADMM-Plus for adoption in Malaysia next year.

The ASEAN Centre for Military Medicine will be established at the Royal Thai Army Military Medical Department in Bangkok, Thailand by 2015. ASEAN Centre for Military Medicine’s function and mechanism will be tested by ADMM-Plus EWG on MM and EWG on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Field Training Exercise (FTX) in 2016, Thailand. Moreover, it will fully operate its duties for example gathering, analyzing and sharing information, cooperating with other related agencies, training, doing research, holding the workshop, making and circulating relevant document in 2017.