Russian Military Expands Battlefield Medical Evacuation
Russia is expanding battlefield medicine, robotic evacuation, hospital capacity and prosthetics to speed up treatment and rehabilitation for wounded troops.
Russia is overhauling its military medical system to deliver faster treatment to wounded troops and shorten evacuation times from the front line to military hospitals. According to State Secretary and Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivileva, the main priorities are improving first aid on the battlefield and moving casualties through each stage of treatment more quickly.
The current system covers the critical first minutes and hours after a soldier is wounded, including the so-called golden hour and the first 24 hours. A paramedic initially provides pre-medical care using a new group first-aid kit. The casualty is then transported to a forward medical team for specialized treatment before being transferred to a special-purpose medical unit or one of the central military hospitals.
Evacuation times have been reduced through the delivery of compact vehicles with improved protection against drones, armored medical transport and unmanned ground systems. Tsivileva said evacuation teams also work closely with electronic warfare, communications and unmanned systems units.
New individual first-aid kits and group medical sets have also been introduced across the forces, improving the standard of care available directly on the front line. Assault units have been fully supplied with group first-aid equipment, while an additional reserve has been created.
For the first time, unmanned systems units have been established within medical companies and battalions to operate ground-based robotic platforms. These machines are used both to evacuate wounded personnel and to deliver medicines and other medical supplies to forward positions. Their deployment reduces the time needed to remove casualties, lowers the risks faced by military medics and helps maintain a continuous flow of supplies to medical units.
Unmanned systems sections have also been added to medical platoons and equipped with robotic vehicles designed to transport wounded troops. By the end of the year, the Defense Ministry plans to provide medical units with their full requirement of armored evacuation vehicles and unmanned ground systems.
After receiving first aid and being stabilized, wounded servicemen are moved to subsequent stages of evacuation for specialized and advanced medical treatment. Tsivileva linked the shorter transfer times to an increase in medical service staffing in the special military operation zone from 94.5% to 96%, along with new evacuation preparation methods and a coordinated system for distributing patients among military hospitals.
The military hospital network is being expanded at the same time. Military districts and fleets are increasing the number of facilities capable of providing high-technology treatment. Up to 1,500 beds are expected to become available this year in newly built or extensively renovated hospitals.
High-technology procedures now account for 12.5% of operations performed at district- and fleet-level medical facilities. Such treatment is no longer limited to the central military medical institutions in Moscow and St. Petersburg and can now be provided closer to where servicemen live or are stationed.
The prosthetics system has also been reorganized. The average waiting time between a serviceman becoming medically ready and the start of the prosthetic fitting process has fallen from 16 days to 11 days. The ministry plans to reduce it further to eight days by the end of the year.
The rehabilitation network includes the Unified Center for the Coordination of Comprehensive Rehabilitation at the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy, 25 rehabilitation and education centers attached to military hospitals, and 56 prosthetic and orthopedic enterprises operating in 26 Russian regions.