Military Health Service
Over 250 military medical centres and unit medical services provide outreach medical support to the armed forces, whether on the national territory, overseas or in operations.
These units also have paramedical and administrative personnel, working under the technical responsibility of one or several physicians.
The on-site medical services are supplemented by specialised technical skills from the nine military hospitals, which have a holding capacity of 2,700 beds .
The main missions of these hospitals include the provision of specialized medical healthcare and high-quality expert resources, as well as the training of medical and paramedical personnel. Their personnel contribute to staffing medical treatment facilities deployed in operations abroad.
All special fields of the research, whether fundamental, applied or clinical research, meet the requirements in the areas of prevention and protection, in relation to the physiological and psychological constraints imposed on soldiers.
The Military Health Service’s research primarily centres on measures of medical protection against CBRN risks.
The four Military Health Service schools provide initial education, preparing students to work as licensed medical personnel (e.g. physicians, pharmacists, nurses…) in military environment.
The medical personnel benefit from a continuing education during their military career, enabling them to develop their skills further and have individual professional promotion prospects within the Service.
The Military Health Service supplies drugs and medical equipment to the medical services of the units, military hospitals and medical treatment facilities in missions.
Four units with the status of pharmaceutical institutions and one specialized unit are in charge of manufacturing or buying, stocking and distributing specific drugs, aimed at treating wounded and sick people, on the national territory and in operations abroad.