Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday virtually inaugurated the Department of Military Medicine at the Army’s Central Command, Lucknow. This is the country’s first dedicated academic and operational department focused exclusively on military medicine.Established under the Directorate General of Medical Services (Army), the department is designed to sharpen combat medical readiness, drive research, and build indigenous doctrines for military healthcare — from the battlefield to humanitarian relief operations.The Ministry of Defence said: “It was a significant step toward strengthening the operational preparedness of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS)”.The key focus of the department’s includes military trauma and damage control, combat psychiatry and resilience, environmental and operational medicine, military medical logistics, medical response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear emergency, emergency medicine and critical care, disaster medicine and research, audit and data analytics.The department will also work on developing protocols for challenges such as high-altitude illnesses.Rajnath said the unit was expected to serve as a hub for research and development around emerging threats, pointing out that India remains one of the largest contributors of troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions — underlining the international dimension of military medical preparedness.The move comes months after Command Hospital, Lucknow, upgraded its diagnostic infrastructure, including a new digital radiography and fluoroscopy system commissioned in 2025 — part of a broader modernisation drive at the facility under the Central Command.With the new department now operational, the Ministry of Defence is positioning Lucknow as an emerging centre for specialised military healthcare research in India, aimed at building expertise for both future battlefield scenarios and large-scale humanitarian response.