Military Medicine Enters into New Sphere with First Scientific Sessions

The inauguration of the first-ever milestone Scientific Sessions of the one-year old Sri Lanka College of Military Medicine (SLCOMM), themed on ‘Military Medicine - Sri Lankan Perspective’ will get underway at the Colombo Army Hospital auditorium during March 10 - 11 with the participation of over 250 professionals and participants, drawn from other colleges of relevance to the fields of medicine and dentistry.

Marking a major turning point in the annals of Sri Lankan military history, a combined tri service gathering of 400 medical and dental officers, succeeded in establishing the first-ever Sri Lanka College of Military Medicine (SLCOMM) as the academic forum at the Colombo Army Hospital on 18 March 2016 with the blessings of the Commander of the Army on a proposal, submitted by Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe, Director General Army Health Services.

These academic sessions would also touch on tri service (Army, Navy, Air Force) dimensions of military medicine, including Combat Medicine, Underwater Medicine and Aviation Medicine. A pre-scientific session will deal with ‘Update on Bleeding & Thrombosis’ which is regarded as an important area of military medicine. The sessions are expected to debate on eight paper presentations and an equal number of poster presentations. Furthermore, the sessions will include a symposium each on Military Medicine, Military Dentistry and Military Psychiatry.

The SLCOMM aims to promote continuous professional development of members, research and innovation, trainees and advocacy in the field of military medicine, in addition to its objectives, meant to assist the development and implementation of military and national health policy, management of resources, problem-solving and decision-making processes and publication of an SLCOMM journal.

In the past one year of its founding, the SLCOMM executive council under the leadership of Surgeon Rear Admiral (Rtd) N.E.L.W Jayasekera, Founder President, along with Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe, President Elect and Air Commodore L.R Jayaweera, Vice President has undertaken a series of activities through four sub-committees: Management, Academic, Social and Media.

Likewise, it has taken steps to increase its membership, conduct of a workshop on Research Methodology, introduction of a Masters’ level post-graduate course in Military Medicine, etc. Further, the present Council has embarked on tracing and documenting the history of military medicine in our country with special emphasis on experiences in the thirty-year long conflict. In addition, the SLCOMM has begun to collaborate with other local and international professional colleges as an academic forum.

Sri Lanka’s membership in the International Council of Military Medicine (ICMM), representing 120 countries is a significant milestone in this regard and works as a catalyst to the scope of the SLCOMM.

The ceremonial inauguration of scientific sessions at Attidiya Eagle’s Lakeside Convention Hall will occur on Friday (10) and subsequent academic sessions will go on at the Colombo Army Hospital auditorium until Saturday (11).