Multinational Medical Coordination Centre / European Medical Command

Task of the Multinational Medical Coordination Centre / European Medical Command (MMCC/EMC) is to provide coordinating support to the medical services of NATO and EU. The experience made in the management of large-scale medical emergencies or the Ebola crisis has shown that the interdependencies between public health protection and external and internal security are increasing. A future core task of MMCC/EMC will be civil-military cooperation, in particular with the organisations and institutions of the EU nations and establishments. MMCC/EMC supports in the provision and assessment of the medical situation picture for NATO and EU, which is jointly developed with the nations and NATO/EU organisations.

The task spectrum covered ranges from cross-border crisis management to collective and national defence. A particular focus is on CBRN medical defence and on the coordination of strategic, supra-national medical evacuation.

On the Way to Multinationality

None of the nations is capable of ensuring the provision of all facets of medical support required for a NATO- or EU-led operation on its own. This is why in autumn 2018 the Surgeon Generals of the Medical Services of NATO and EU called for an additional coordinating medical organisation as an urgent necessity. On 4 September 2019, the 14 member states during a solemn ceremony signed initial operational capability (IOC) of MMCC/EMC. Most recently, during the COMEDS Plenary held in Brussels in late November 2019, the Slovak Republic signed the IOC declaration. At the beginning of 2020, finally, Poland and Lithuania joined the MMCC/EMC project.

One of the goals is to increase operational readiness and interoperability of our military medical services through common standards, combined planning and cooperative procurement.