In recent days, a delegation from the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces Medical Corps paid a visit to theInstitute of Aerospace Medicine (IMAS) in Rome aimed at observing, understanding and studying the selection procedures and medical visits carried out at the Institute.
The meeting began with a welcome by Brigadier General Fabio Morgagni, director of IMAS in Rome, which was followed by some briefings which outlined the phases of the medical selection of military pilots. The functioning, history, skills and competences of the Institute were then illustrated, as well as the operational capabilities of the entire Air Force Health Service.
This was followed by a fact-finding visit of the Institute's structure and clinics, with a presentation of the activities of the specialists and the diagnostic instruments in use.
The Air Force Flight Schools and the medical and practical selection process have long attracted the attention of Saudi Arabia, which has always been particularly interested in pilot training and selection activities. For several years this action has materialized with the instruction of cadet pilots of the Royal Saudi Air Force at the Aeronautical Academy of Pozzuoli, the Flight School of the 70th wing of Latina, of the 61st wing of Galatina and the fulfillment of the rigorous medical checks at the IMAS in Rome and Milan.
The Institute of Aerospace Medicine of Rome was founded in 1931 following the transfer of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Guidonia, founded in 1925. IMAS is a highly specialized medico-legal center and with over 26000 annual visits it deals with to the flight of the pilots of all the Armed Forces, Order Forces and Armed Corps of the State, as well as of all the civil personnel of the Italian and foreign flight companies. It also makes its clinics available for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation in various medical specialties.
