MEDCEUR is an international military-medical exercise, which has been held for several years now in the organization of the United States European Command (EUCOM) in the Central and Eastern European countries. This is the first time that the Republic of Serbia has been nominated the host of this exercise, which is to be held in Nis in from 2 to 13 September this year. Representatives of MoD and SAF participated in the exercises in 2007 in Moldova and 2008 in Croatia as observers.

Unlike most military exercises where the deployment of weapons prevails along with other combat arms, MEDCEUR is a humanitarian exercise where military medical teams save the lives of those who suffer in natural disasters. The goal of the exercise is to train the military medical staff of the participating countries in order to be able to jointly act on addressing the consequences of natural disasters and providing relief to those in need, thus placing accent on the interoperability in international interventions in the cases of humanitarian and natural disasters.

The members of the Ministry of the Interior, Republic of Serbia, as well as the fire department, the Red Cross of Serbia, and of the Nis military hospital will also get involved in MEDCEUR 09. This will improve the interoperability between civil and military services and NGOs in saving human lives. The planned concept principally includes the SAF third mission contents - providing support to civil authorities in natural disasters and catastrophes.

In the first week of the exercise in “Knjaz Mihajlo” barracks in Nis, the participants and the representatives of civil organizations will attend various courses and lectures. After the academic part, the practical part of the exercise will be conducted on nine working sites in “Car Konstantin” airfield in Nis. This part includes evacuation of the injured and medical evacuation in case of a traffic accident, also responding to a leak of chloride gas from a cistern, extinguishing fire and saving the survivors under rubble as well as attending to the injured in the Red Cross camp. MEDCEUR 09 will have been held for the first time in Serbia, which is an excellent opportunity for the Ministry of Defense of Serbia and the Serbian Armed Forces to present themselves in the best light, and to share experiences in crisis management.

Besides EUCOM and SAF, as organizers of MEDCEUR 09, there will be 15 NATO member and PfP partner countries taking part in the exercise.

Goal of MEDCEUR 09 military-medical exercise

- Acquiring experience in organizing exercise activities in multinational environment and exercising medical relief procedures of NATO and PfP teams and units in mass casualty environment.
- Improvement of interoperability between NATO/PfP countries and other structures in crisis management.
- Learning and adopting operational procedures in multinational environment.

OVERVIEW OF DEPLOYED CIVILIAN STRUCTURES

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Interior
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry And Water Management
• Serbian Red Cross
• Department for Emergency Situations
• Veterinary Department
• Regional Civil Protection Center
• City Civil Protection Center
• City Government