Annual Report the Surgeon General United States Army Fiscal Year 1960
MEDICAL SUPPLY AND EQUIPMENT
Medical-Dental Division, Army Stock Fund
The Medical-Dental Division, Army Stock Fund, continued to function as the financial management tool for the funding of bulk inventories of medical materiel at selected CONUS and oversea medical installations and activities. In addition to the home office, managed by the Supply Division, OTSG, 22 branch offices in CONUS and 6 in oversea commands were operated-all at the retail supply level. The Army Medical Service procured the greater portion of its supplies and equipment from the wholesale medical supply stocks (capitalized under the Navy Stock Fund) of the Military Medical Supply Agency, the operating activity of the single manager for medical materiel (Navy).
As of 1 July 1959, the six branch offices in the Third U.S. Army Area were decapitalized in the amount of $3,300,000 and capitalized in the ZI Installations Division, Army Stock Fund, on a test basis to evaluate the concept of horizontal stock funding (that is, at command rather than at technical service levels). An additional $500,000 was subsequently decapitalized for the same purpose to cover undelivered contracts and centrally funded projects.
The Army Medical Service was allotted $25,400,000 for obligation purposes in fiscal year 1960. Of this amount, 99 percent was utilized. This was particularly significant in view of the fact that, during the second quarter of the fiscal year, DCSLOG established an overall target of $97 in peacetime operating stock obligations for every $100 in sales.
Medical Materiel Program for Nuclear Casualties
The distribution of supplies for the emergency medical care of nuclear casualties, which began in the previous year, was continued during fiscal year 1960 when funds in the amount of more than $3,300,000 were made available for the procurement and the distribution of Phase I and Phase II Emergency Medical Treatment Units to posts, camps, and stations. By the end of the fiscal year, 10,119 Phase I units and 168 Phase II units had been purchased from the wholesale supply system during the 2-year period. The Phase I units are positioned with each 100 personnel and contain quantities of 27 different medical items for self-aid and buddy-type care during the immediate postattack period. Phase II units consist of 75 different medical items in quantities sufficient for first aid treatment of 1,000 casualties for a 20-day period and are issued to hospital facilities in bulk.
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Allocation of Single-Manager-Owned Mobilization ReserveAssets
Since the adoption of the single-manager system in fiscal year 1957, the ability of the Army Medical Service to meet mobilization and other major contingency obligations, supplywise, has been uncertain due to the fact that general mobilization reserve stocks at the wholesale level have not been allocated on any specific basis to the three medical services. As a result of continuous advocation by The Surgeon General and other considerations, the Department of Defense issued a policy statement, on 8 July 1959, which established the principle that mobilization reserve stocks will consist of two basic parts: PWRS (Prepositioned War Reserve Stocks) and GMRS (General Mobilization Reserve Stocks).
Under this policy directive, stocks previously identified for specific reserve purposes, such as operational projects, would be reclassified as PWRS and would be under the control of the respective services. The reserve stocks held for gross mobilization requirements would be allocated administratively to the military medical services on the basis of priorities established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Although still in the process of implementation, the Department of Defense policy will identify specifically the medical materiel mobilization support capability of each military medical service, thus enabling The Surgeon General to evaluate his ability to support departmental mobilization obligations.
Procurement
While the Military Medical Supply Agency, under the direction of the single manager, purchases wholesale stocks of standard items of medical supplies and equipment for all three military medical services, The Surgeon General is responsible for certain purchasing and contracting functions at the retail level. The extent of The Surgeon General's responsibility in this respect is indicated by the fact that, in fiscal year 1960, purchasing and contracting officers in the OTSG and in AMEDS class II installations and activities contracted for supplies and services amounting to $79,914,627. These expenditures involved 69,848 contractual actions. Of these, 102 with a dollar value of $52,025,980 represent the contracting activities of the Office for Dependents' Medical Care; 381 amounting to $9,848,847 represent contracts negotiated with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and commercial research foundations in support of the AMEDS research and development program; and 69,365 totaling $18,039,800 represent
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the procurement of supplies and services for the operation of AMEDS class II hospitals and miscellaneous units.
The contracting actions taken during the year in support of class II hospitals, medical centers, and the Louisville Medical Depot numbered 69,125 and represented an expenditure of slightly more than $18 million. Contracts negotiated with private industrial concerns accounted for about 46 percent of this amount, while procurement from other Government agencies accounted for approximately 40 percent, procurement through advertised bids for 14 percent, and contracts negotiated with nonprofit institutions for a fraction of 1 percent.
Procurement actions in support of the local requirements of AMEDS class II installations and activities reflected the continuing emphasis on purchases for small business firms. Approximately 77 percent of the 56,013 contractual actions resulting from advertised bids or negotiations with private industrial concerns were awarded to small business firms, and they represented 71 percent of the dollar value of $10,744,707.
Federal Supply Catalog
Although the single manager for medical materiel is responsible for the Federal Supply Catalog, The Surgeon General continues to cooperate closely with the Military Medical Supply Agency and to coordinate his efforts with those of the other medical services in keeping the catalog up to date. During the year, eight Department of the Army supply manuals were published and issued as separate pamphlets of the Department of Defense section of the catalog. In addition, eight new or revised repair parts pamphlets were published. In this connection, under a new Department of the Army numbering system, the designation of repair parts pamphlets was changed from supply manuals to technical manuals, with the identifying number of each keyed to the Federal supply class and item to which it pertains.
Reconstitution of Major Medical Assemblages
Emphasis continued on the program initiated in fiscal year 1958 to reconstitute major medical assemblages. The program includes the latest packaging concept designed to reduce the weight and size of assemblages by the employment of reusable, lightweight containers in order to facilitate the deployment and redeployment of field medical units. During the year, the Louisville Medical Depot reconstituted five field hospital assemblages for STRAC and STRAF medical units. In addition, as a training vehicle and also as a means of conserving funds, five medical units in CONUS were authorized to reconstitute
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their own assemblages at their home stations with the technical assistance of the Louisville Medical Depot when required.
Mutual Security Program
The Surgeon General retained his responsibility for administering the medical portion o-f the Army Mutual Security Program and con?tinued to program and report deliveries of medical materiel to eligible recipient countries. Allocations for this program during the fiscal year totaled $4,501,283. Shipments amounted to $3,384 for military sales and to $8,662,141 for grant aid, a substantial portion of the latter being from allocations of previous years.
Maintenance of Medical Equipment
Special stress was placed on the effective maintenance of medical equipment, particularly at the using level. To increase the range of items covered and to promote uniform classification, the serviceability standards for technical medical equipment were revised for publication on a triservice basis. A technical manual, Handbook for Medical Repairmen, was developed. Three modification work orders were also prepared to eliminate safety hazards and to improve operational reliability of standard items of equipment.
Three depot maintenance shops and three field maintenance shops were operated throughout the year and they repaired a total of 58,847 items of equipment-the former repairing 24,539 items and the latter 34,308. The importance of the maintenance program was demonstrated by the fact that the costs of $459,564 incurred by the depot shops in repairing equipment valued at $3,284,954 represented a return of $7.15 for each $1.00 of direct cost expended.
As the result of a critical review of the various levels of skill and of the extent of supervision required in the field of medical equipment maintenance, a new military occupational specialty was established for warrant officers (MOS 4890-medical equipment repair technician). Concurrently, MOS 4890 (medical equipment maintenance officer)was withdrawn from officer MOS identification. As a corollary action, the technical maintenance training program was reevaluated with the result that the courses were realined and reduced from previous lengths of 18 weeks (basic), 32 weeks (advanced), 21 weeks (officer), and 6 weeks (refresher) to 10 weeks (basic), 30 weeks (intermediate), and 6 weeks (advanced and refresher). In addition, plans were initiated to add 2 weeks to the curriculum of the Medical Supply Officers Course(8-A-4490) to allow more time for maintenance familiarization.
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Depot Supply Operations
The Army Medical Service continued to be responsible for providing support to the Military Medical Supply Agency in the storage and distribution of medical materiel in various geographic areas in CONUS. Five Army depots (the Louisville Medical Depot and the Atlanta, Schenectady, Sharpe, and Memphis General Depots) store medical material and are responsible for operating four primary stock points, two distribution stock points, one carrying stock point, and five reserve stock points in the wholesale depot system. Data concerning the space allocations and workloads of the five depots during the fiscal year are shown in table 22.
TABLE 22.-Depot space allocations and workload, fiscal year 1960
Depot | Gross allocated space (sq. ft.) | Percent utilized | Tons in storage | Tons received | Tons shipped | Line items processed |
Louisville Medical | 1,695,000 | 65 | 41,127 | 5,210 | 7,787 | 453,629 |
Atlanta General | 291,000 | 82 | 7,003 | 1,574 | 2,595 | 126,024 |
Schenectady General | 314,000 | 76 | 8,043 | 924 | 1,739 | 62,342 |
Sharpe General | 829,000 | 81 | 24,405 | 5,941 | 8,380 | 278,352 |
Memphis General | 411,000 | 79 | 17,999 | --- | 210 | --- |
| Total | 3,540,000 | 73 | 98,577 | 13,649 | 20,711 | 920,347 |
Source: Supply Division, OTSG.
Fabrication of Spectacles
In addition to the fixed ophthalmic shops at the U.S. Army Medical Optical and Maintenance Activity and at the Sharpe General Depot, Lathrop, Calif., the Optical Section of the 32d Army Medical Depot at Brooke Army Medical Center fabricated single-vision spectacles for selected installations and activities. During the year, 549,447 spectacles were fabricated, 411,394 by the St. Louis shop, 128,960 by the Sharpe shop, and 9,093 by the 32d Army Medical Depot. Of the total workload, 49 percent was accomplished for the Army, 46 percent for the Air Force, and 5 percent for the Navy.
Ambulance Replacement Program
Special attention was given to the problem of replacing metropolitan ?-ton ambulances and ?-ton truck ambulances, which are overage
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and uneconomical to repair, with modern ambulances. This program progressed during the year to the point of obtaining approval to procure the new ambulances in the ensuing fiscal year. Detailed requirements have been solicited from commands to provide a firm basis for developing a distribution plan that will be practical and afford the maximum benefit from the limited number expected to become available.
Hospital Equipment Program
Continuous effort is being made to replace wornout and obsolete equipment in use at medical treatment facilities with modern and improved equipment in order to keep pace with new trends in medical technology. This program is an important element of mobilization preparation and is also essential to maintaining high standards of medical care.
Tentative budget guidance has been developed and provisions made for thoroughly evaluating all requirements so that the most essential needs can be met from the funds available. This will be a continuing program to insure that objectives are accomplished through the process of command programming.
Reorganization of Supply Division, OTSG
The organization of the Supply Division, OTSG, was revised during the year by combining similar or related functions and by defining more clearly the various fields of responsibility in order to assure greater efficiency in AMEDS supply operations under the single-manager system. The number of organizational elements in the Supply Division was reduced from 7 to 6, and the number of personnel from 93 to 91 (17 military, 74 civilian). The new organization includes the Office of Chief and five branches-Materiel, Materiel Standards Coordination, Procurement, Requirements, and Supply Operations.
