At the first international congress on special aeromedical evacuations in Colombia, the Italian Air Force's high biocontainment transport capability was also featured.
From 9 to 11 October, the first international congress “Asclepius”, an event organised by the Colombian Air Force in collaboration with the Universidad Militar “Nueva Granada”. The congress involved various aeronautical components of international armed forces, and focused on the management of aeromedical evacuation operations, medical emergencies, and all related activities. In addition to military participants, the event also saw the involvement of a significant civilian component from the teaching staff of the University that hosted the Congress, with the primary objective always being to share experiences and improve response capabilities in health crisis situations.
For the’Italian Air Force Colonel Marco Lastilla and First Lieutenant Marco Prisco were present and made a significant contribution to the event, not only by holding a workshop on the transport of highly contagious patients but also by presenting scientific work at the congress session concerning the transport of two patients with “Ebola” haemorrhagic fever and one with suspected “Monkey Pox”.
The opportunity to showcase our operational capabilities in this field was unique, arousing considerable interest from the large audience at the event, given our now internationally recognised expertise and the extremely high safety standards achieved in transport operations. This highlighted our ability to manage critical situations nationally and internationally, including those related to highly infectious diseases.
It High bio-containment transport This indeed presents one of the greatest challenges in terms of logistics and health security. The preparation and professionalism acquired over the years by the AM's healthcare component have helped to bolster a leading international role for our Armed Force in the field of aeromedical evacuations and, in particular, medical transport for highly infectious diseases. This has concurrently contributed to improving relations between air forces and collective preparedness for potential global health emergencies.
