Poland's 'Medical Legion' draws hundreds of volunteers, daily reports

A Polish defense ministry program designed to train medical staff for crises such as war and natural disasters has attracted strong interest, with 746 people signing up by February 17, the daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Friday.

A Polish defense ministry program aimed at training civilian medical staff to respond to crises such as war and natural disasters has drawn far greater interest than expected, according to a media report.

Photo: X/@Zelazna_Dywizja/St. kpr. Sławomir Kozioł

The “Medical Legion” was launched by the defense ministry at the start of the year to train medical and paramedical personnel for emergency needs.

The program is civilian in nature, the newspaper noted.

Rzeczpospolita reported that the largest group of applicants were paramedics, who submitted 163 registration forms.

It said 116 nurses and midwives had signed up, along with 104 doctors, 49 physiotherapists, 18 pharmacists and 17 laboratory diagnosticians.

Volunteers also included medical and pharmaceutical technicians and dental assistants, the paper said.

“We expected the project to receive a positive response, but we did not anticipate that interest would be so high in the very first days," Col. Arkadiusz Kosowski, director of the Department of Military Health Service at the Ministry of National Defense, told Rzeczpospolita.

"It turns out that demand for this type of activity is significant," he added.

(jh/gs)

Source: PAP