Aeromedical evacuation issues in East Timor - the implications for deployment

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has had an Aeromedical Evacuation (AME) capability in Dili, East Timor supporting INTERFET and UNTAET since September 1999. This unit, the Aeromedical Staging Facility (ASF), has provided excellent experience for military medical staff and has also provided excellent support to both the peace enforcing mission and the East Timorese people. Analysis of cases from May 2000 to January 2002 demonstrates that ADF medical officers may not be adequately trained in various aspects of medicine to provide appropriate care to both ADF and civilian personnel and may not meet civilian standards. ADF personnel are required to do several courses prior to deployment but often are deployed without these prerequisites. Permanent medical officers are also often not as clinically competent as their civilian counterparts. The issue of competency and training needs to be addressed for current and future operations where the increased incidence of small scale operations other than war has reduced the ADF health support capability. The paucity of combat casualties since Vietnam has decreased the requirement for a first class highly specialised aeromedical retrieval and resuscitation team. (author abstract)