Medical
Corps
Upon the outbreak of the Greek Revolution of 1821, there was no organised medical service, since there was not an organised regular army. The German Heinrich Treiber, who arrived in Greece in 1822, was the first surgeon of the Hellenic Army and the founder of the first hospitals and the military pharmaceutical depot. The operation of the military hospitals commenced in 1828.
In 1836, the first regular military hospital was established in Athens named “A’ Athens Military Hospital”.
During the Greek-Turkish War of 1897, the Hellenic Army’s Nurses Corps was established.
In 1942, the Officers’ Hospital was established, later renamed to 417 Army Equity Fund Hospital.
On 25 July 1948, the 424 General Military Training Hospital started operating at its current location.
In 1947, the Military Medical Academy started operating again, after having suspended its operation in 1935 and in 1970 it was renamed to “Combat Support Officers Academy” including, apart from the Medical, Dentist, Veterinary and Pharmacist departments, the Judiciary, Finance and Recruitment departments too.
In 1946, the Army’s Nurses Corps was established and in the same year the Female Nurses Academy was founded, which was renamed, in 1971, to Nurse Officers Academy. In 1989, it was stipulated that the duration of studies would be 4 years and it was renamed to Nursing Officers Academy. In 1990, it also started admitting male students.
In 1947, the 415 Military Hospital started operating in Penteli. In 1968, the Radiological Research Centre for Diseases due to Tuberculosis and in 1993 the Army Biological Research Centre settled in the hospital’s premises. In 1993, a new mission was assigned to the hospital and it was renamed to 414 Special Diseases Military Hospital.
In September 1971, the 401 Athens General Military Hospital settled at its current location, as the largest military hospital of the country.
The emblem of the Medical Corps
REPRESENTATION: Snake-entwined staff and a helmet. The staff is the symbol of the doctors of antiquity, who toured the cities offering their services to the patients. The snake is the standard symbol of the God of health Asclepius and its utilisation by ancient Greeks had the meaning that, as snakes shedding their old skin always appear young, likewise the God of health, healing the diseases of humans, protects their youthfulness. The helmet is the emblem of the Army and its representation indicates that the emblem represents the Medical Corps of the Army.
MAXIM: “ΤΗ ΤΟΥ ΙΗΤΡΟΥ ΕΠΙΕΙΚΕΙΗ ΕΥΔΟΚΕΟΝΤΕΣ” (trusting the love of the doctor for humans).
Our Mission
The mission of the Medical Corps is the Army’s support in healthcare, in peacetime and wartime, aiming to preserve its power and combative force intact, as well as to assist the State in the management of emergencies.
Characteristics
- The provision of primary (in military units), secondary (in small healthcare units) and tertiary (in military hospitals) healthcare to the Army’s Military personnel as well as other eligible individuals.
- The training of the personnel of the Medical Corps (Regulars and Reserves, Doctors, Dentists, Veterinarians, Pharmacists, Nurses and miscellaneous personnel).
- The preventive annual medical examination of the whole Regular military personnel of the Army, the selection of new recruits, their regular monitoring and the annual selection of candidates for the Army’s Higher Military Education Institutions – Higher Military NCOs Academies.
- Research on medical and other issues of healthcare.
- Participation in Army or joint exercises.
- Securing of Veterinary support.