MULTINATIONAL MEDICAL TEAM PROVIDES HEALTHCARE TO VILLAGERS DURING EX COBRA GOLD

They travel an hour each day by bus to reach rural villages and spend another hour to unpack and set up. By mid-morning, the eight Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel on a mission to provide primary medical care to Thai villagers as part of Exercise Cobra Gold 2010 will be busy working alongside their multinational counterparts, attending to the locals with medical, dental and even veterinary needs.

The Medical Civil Assistance Programme (MEDCAP) team, made up of military medical personnel from Thailand, United States, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, made stops at the Thai towns of Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi and Chantaburi.

Major (Dr) Alexander Gorny, the Medical Lead for the SAF MEDCAP team told cyberpioneer that working with personnel from the other countries was overwhelming at first, but the common objective of providing primary medical care to the locals drew the team together.

"It was scary at first but later I think everyone looked at the singular objective we had - to provide primary care - (and) everyone could actually follow through very quickly. Within the first day, all difficulties were resolved and we worked together very well."

He was also very proud and happy that the team went beyond their call of duty on more than one occasion and demonstrated throughout the mission that they could "go beyond their professional training, identify a need and simply do what is most natural and most logical".

The exposure to the medical personnel from other participating nations as well as the visits to the local villages proved to be a very enriching experience for the SAF medical team.

Said MAJ (Dr) Jeremiah Chng from the Navy, "We got to interact with the different armed forces, the medical personnel, so you actually get to see how they work, the types of equipment they bring and listen to the experiences that they have had."

He added that "For the medical mission itself, it was a pleasure to see that you re actually doing some good for the villages. You can see that they are very happy receiving whatever medical help we could provide for them."

Citing instances of when they had helped diagnose and tend to chronic or even life-threatening medical problems which the patient themselves were unaware of, MAJ (Dr) Chng said, "You can actually see tangibly your purpose there, helping the people."

The SAF team worked closely with their counterparts, drawing on each other's experience to tend to some 3,470 cases in the course of the medical mission. These cases included consultations and treatments for common illnesses such as cough and flu, pediatric cases, as well as optometry and dental care.

Exercise Cobra Gold is an annual multilateral exercise that focuses on peace support and civilian evacuation operations. It also aims to promote mutual understanding, friendship and professionalism among the personnel of participating armed forces.

The SAF, together with the Royal Thai Armed Forces, United States Pacific Command, Japan Self-Defense Forces, Indonesian National Defence Forces and the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, participated in this year's exercise which was held from 1 to 11 Feb in Pattaya, Thailand.

Representatives from another 20 countries are also involved in this year's exercise as observers. The SAF has been a full participant of Exercise Cobra Gold since 2000, having sent observers to the exercise from 1993 to 1999.