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Medical leaders visit Afghanistan as operations transition

  • Published
  • By Larine Barr
  • Air Force Surgeon General Public Affairs Office
WASHINGTON --  As the war draws down and coalition forces continue to withdraw from Afghanistan, joint medical leaders visited the area May 3-10 to assess the current state of medical operations in theater and meet with joint forces currently deployed.

Led by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Dr. Jonathan Woodson, the visiting team included Maj. Gen. Mark Ediger, Deputy Air Force Surgeon General; Rear Adm. Forrest Faison III, Navy Deputy Surgeon General; Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Caravalho Jr., Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; and Maj. Gen. Nadja West, Joint Staff Surgeon to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A key focus of the trip to the Combined Joint Operations Area was to talk with front-line medical teams and senior leaders about current medical wartime capabilities, advancements in medical readiness and anticipated drawdown efforts in the months to come.

"We learned a great deal about the near-term medical support requirements in Afghanistan but also gained valuable insight in regard to continued advancement of our ability to support deployed operations into the future," said Ediger. "Making the trip as a joint team with Dr. Woodson enabled us to discuss progressive advancements in our deployable and interoperable medical teams."

The team's visit included tours of medical facilities at the joint United States and United Kingdom base at Camp Bastion/Leatherneck; Bagram Air Field; U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Kandahar Air Base; the medical group at Al Udeid Air Base; and an Afghan national community hospital outside Kandahar, where two Army Medical Service Corps officers are embedded.

Ediger said while visiting the International Security Assistance Force hospitals at Camp Bastion and Kandahar, the operations they observed there are impressive, "with missions in significant transition at this time." He noted that the medical group at Al Udeid is doing excellent work supporting the entire theater.

"They are providing medical, dental and surgical care for members from several sites in the AOR, en- route patient staging and moving life-saving blood products in a very timely way," Ediger said.

As a highlight of the trip, the team witnessed trauma care at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Air Field, one of the largest coalition hospitals in Afghanistan. Initially, the group saw a simulated patient demonstration from the Dustoff ramp through the hospital's trauma process, but the medical team received actual battle casualties soon thereafter.

"The Bagram medical team was truly impressive in their trauma response," Ediger said. "It was evident this team has worked very hard to hone their trauma resuscitation processes to eliminate delays while assuring careful attention to detail. There were no pauses--everybody knew their role and knew the guidelines."

After 12 years of war in the AOR, Ediger said it is widely acknowledged that advancements in trauma care have had a major positive impact on unprecedented survival rates. "Our aeromedical evacuation capability has been transformational in terms of improved patient outcomes and markedly changed our approach to deployed medical support. Forward trauma resuscitation with standardization via the Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines and modernization of medical/surgical care in the operational setting have also been major factors," he said.

Standardizing trauma resuscitation has also yielded measurable outcomes for wounded and injured patients.

"The Joint Theater Trauma System and the 'Trauma Czar' concept are quite effective and the trip gave us the opportunity to discuss how we can assure those processes are applied in theaters other than CENTCOM," Ediger said.

The team also recognized that advanced care in medical and casualty evacuation has improved outcomes for certain patients. "We discussed possible means of providing that capability in all Services, with the ability to do so in a variety of transport platforms," said Ediger.

In addition, Ediger said the team agreed that the provision of trauma resuscitation and critical care currency through partnerships like the Air Force Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills is yielding great results, and a Military Health System approach applying this technique is needed.

With the trip now concluded, each of the Deputy Surgeons and the Joint Staff Surgeon have contributed to an after-action report with plans to put ideas and observations in action. Ediger said the Air Force has already initiated its actions in the Air Force Medical Service through the AFCENT Surgeon.