The Purkyně Military Medical Academy has been a long-term educational and scientific centre of the Czech Army Medical Service. There has been a very long history of systematic education of military medical personnel in our country. Its beginnings lie, as in many European countries, in the 18^th century. Large, permanent armies were being built and the military health service became a normal part of these armies. In 1776 the War Council of the Vienna Court issued an administrative order which definitely prohibited the employment of field surgeons in the armed forces who had not studied anatomy and who had not had their knowledge officially examined. This can be considered the beginning of organized education of military medical personnel in our country. Six-month courses were organized for field surgeons at the Garrison Hospital in Gumpendorf near Vienna.

    The fundamental milestone in the “Austrian“ stage was, however, in 1785 with the establishment of the Military Medical (Surgical) Academy named the Josephinum after its founder the enlightened monarch and father of many political and social reforms, Emperor Joseph II. He saw the mission of the school as fulfilling these tasks:

• education of qualified military surgeons (physicians)

• creation of a learned society for research in medical science

• creation of a permanent field sanitary commision for solving questions concerning combat casualty care.

    A number of renowned physicians of Czech origin significantly contributed to nearly 90 years of the school´s history.

    The foundation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 meant at the same time the creation of a democratic army. The basic element of career military physician training was represented by the Military Medical School. Its establishment was the result of a decision by the Czechoslovak Republic government which by its resolution of 25 June 1926 defined the principles of adding professional medical and pharmaceutical personnel to the army. The Military Medical School provided professional training for military physicians and further qualification growth for the performance of higher command functions in the military medical service structure.

    The development of the Czechoslovak Military Medical Service in our country was interrupted by the Second World War. When the army was disbanded a number of physicians and medical students participated in foreign and domestic resistance. The largest number of them were concentrated in England. The British government permitted medical students to complete their studies at British universities. They graduated from Oxford University. The Czechoslovak Military Hospital was created at London Hammersmith Hospital. A few courses of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Reserve Officer School were taught in Leamington and Walton-on-the-Naze where the Czechoslovak Brigade´s out-patients´ department was situated. Thus, the tradition of the Czechoslovak military medical educational system maintained its continuity.

    In 1945 the pre-war practice of adding professional personnel to the Military Medical Service was restored. The Military Medical School in Prague was renowned. At the same time tendencies referring to the practice of some medical services of the world´s leading armies which required the establishment of an independent military medical university were increasing. The results of the Second World War and the growth of new knowledge in the field of medicine and especially military medicine played a significant role in this.

    In 1951 a new period began in the development of the Czechoslovak military medical educational system. This period has been permanently connected with Hradec Králové for 50 years. Rapid establishment of the Military Medical Academy (MMA) was possible only due to the fact that it was built on the basis of being a theoretical and clinical part of the Medical Faculty – a branch of Charles University established in 1945. Thanks to the reputation of its workers, a majority of whom became employees of the MMA, the school became an educational and scientific centre of the Czechoslovak Medical Service and within a short time gained a good reputation both at home and abroad.The MMA has educated a number of advanced military medical specialists and the first steps of several contemporary top specialists of Czechoslovak medicine were connected with its existence.

    Beginning in 1958 and for the next 30 years the military medical university educational system was transformed into the form of the Purkyně Military Medical Research and Postgraduate Institute. Research tasks and activities in the area of further schooling and specialization of military physicians and pharmacists became a fundamental part of its activity. The main portion of a further basic task of the school – the pregraduate training of future military physicians – was taken over by the renewed Medical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Králové. The development of mutual cooperation between these two partner schools, to which the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Králové joined in 1976 as a significant guarantee of the education of military pharmacists, has become a part of the military medical university educational system.

    In 1988 the school changed its name to the Purkyně Military Medical Academy which, institutionally, reflects more precisely the wide variety of its activities.

    In November 1989, the school entered a qualitatively new period of development. It has passed through a transformation which has basically changed some military-professional teaching programmes, the organizational structure of the school, personnel support, the composition of the educational staff and so on.

    The Academy has been included in the new university educational system and since 1993 (origin of the Czech Republic) has served as a training centre for Czech Army medical professionals. It has trained nearly 2600 military surgeons, dentists, and pharmacists till now.

    Some special activities have become a main part of the school´s activities. The humanitarian role of the Military Medical Service and the Military Medical Academy personnel in the present foci of conflicts in the world without doubt rank among them. As early as 1991 an independent Czechoslovak counterchemical battalion was sent to the Gulf. In 1994 a further tradition was established - regular operation of military medical personnel in peace-keeping missions in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The 6^th Field Hospital is known to the public for its operations abroad, first in Albania, and then in Turkey following the earthquake in that country. In 2002 members of the Czech Army Military Medical Service were employed in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. From May to October it was the 6^th Field Hospital. Then this mission was taken over by the 11^th Field Hospital which completed its operations at the end of 2002. Professional training and personal acquaintance of both field hospital personnel before their departure abroad has been traditionally carried out at the Purkyně Military Medical Academy.

    Some employees of the Purkyně Military Medical Academy are represented at international non-govermental institutions and in the positions of UN and NATO experts and advisers. The highest position within the NATO Allied Command Europe Medical Service was held by Brigadier-General doc. MUDr. Leo Klein, CSc. He remained in this position until September 2002 when he completed his period of service. Since December 2002 he has been Surgeon General of the Czech Army Military Medical Service. He is known to the public for his work at the Department of Field Surgery at the Purkyně Military Medical Academy and at the Surgical Department of the University Hospital in Hradec Králové.

    COL doc. MUDr. Roman Prymula, CSc., Ph.D. has been elected the new Rector of the Purkyně Military Medical Academy. He officially assumed this position on October 1, 2002.

    The Academy continues to be a centre for integrated education and scientific research activity ensuring educational and research activities of all kinds and degrees for the training of military medical professionals. In the future its aim is to remain a modern university institution fully comparable with similar facilities and standards in other NATO countries.

    The year 2003 was significant with regard to different opinions on the reform of the Czech Republic Armed Forces. The initially proposed conception was reevaluated in the wake of the reform of public finances which was enforced by the Government. Therefore financial sources were redistributed and reduced. There were new efforts to establish an economic Army structure. Czech Republic Government Resolution no. 1154 of 12 November 2003 entitled “The Conception of the Professional Czech Republic Army's Development and Mobilization of the Czech Republic Armed Forces Modified According to Financial Sources“ has become the final document respecting NATO general interests.

    Academy life was significantly affected by the mission of the Czech Republic Army's 7th Field Hospital to Iraq. (The hospital followed with activities of the Czech Chemical Protection Contingent in Kuwait). Transport of soldiers and material began on 18 April 2003. Basra, in southern Iraq, was appointed the final destination. In September 2003 a personnel rotation was carried out and the hospital finished its activities in December 2003. Our Academy significantly supported the deployment of the 7th Field Hospital through its personnel, organizational activities, professional education and training.

    One of the most important preconditions of transformation of the Czech Republic Army to the fully professional system, is a reorganization of military school system. In the year 2004, merital changes were done in this area. On the basis of amalgamation of the Military School of Ground Forces in Vyškov, the Military Academy in Brno and the Purkyně Military Medical Academy in Hradec Králové there was established the University of Defence in Brno. It comprises three faculties – the Faculty of Military Technology, the Faculty of Economics and Management, the Faculty of Military Health Sciences and three independent university institutes. Law No.214/2004 of the Digest makes up the legal framework of a new legal subject which at the same time identified the date of establising the University of Defence on 1 September 2004. Brig Gen doc. Ing. František Vojkovský, CSc. became the Rector of the University of Defence. The University of Defence was oficially opened with a solemn inauguration on 8 October 2004.

After the transformation of the Purkyně Military Medical Faculty into the Faculty of Military Health Sciences (seated still in Hradec Králové), the basic functions and tasks of the school focused on a specialized training of the Czech Army medical officers and on research work in the area of military health service have been saved. However, number of school emplyoees was cut down.

A new oficial name of our school is: University of Defence, Faculty of Military Health Sciences in Hradec Králové. A new dean of our school became the former rector of school COL doc. MUDr. Roman Prymula, CSc., Ph.D., on the basis of new academic bodies´voting.

    In the year 2004, Czech Republic Army officers carried out their assignments of different forms in peacekeeping missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. Members of our school were not missing. Specialists of the Department of Field Surgery played there a principal role. In the frame of joint operation of multinational forces in Iraq (MNF-Multinational Forces Iraq) they fulfilled their tasks at special work places in British military hospital. Their assistance was highly and positively assessed.

      During 2005 the process of establishing the new university subject – the University of Defence continued with solving the seat and the position of the Faculty of Military Health Sciences. The Faculty of Military Health Sciences received an important position in the supreme self-governing body of the university by electing COL doc. MUDr. Jiří Kassa,  CSc. as the Head of the Academic Senate of the University of Defence on 6 October 2005. He works as the Head of the Department of Toxicology and he is a chief specialist of the Czech Republic Army Surgeon General for toxicology.

    The year 2006 was a jubilee year. The staff of the Faculty of Military Health Sciences of the University of Defence commemorated the 55^th anniversary of the military medical school system in Hradec Králové and its eighty-year existence in the Czech Republic. This school is an irreplaceable centre of training and education of military health care professionals of all branches for the Army of the Czech Republic.The Faculty of Military Health Sciences of the University of Defence guarantees a good quality of the solved research tasks for the benefit of the military health service. High level of the scientific and research activity facilitated the establishment of scientific cooperation with NATO and EU partners.

     The extent of school activities is very wide. The clinical departments provide the general public with the health care including special therapeutic activities. Military health care experts are involved in the integrated emergency system. The preparation of personnel for humanitarian and peacekeeping missions is implemented here. The school provides medical information service, experts reports and language teaching for the Army of the Czech Republic.

     More information about the history and the present state of the military medical school system and the Faculty of Military Health Sciences of University of Defence is to be found in the publication „Military medical school system“, edition: Ministry of Defence, Avis, Prague 2006.