MSCSO History
History
The almost continuous state of war, especially after 1912, made the need to find a permanent solution regarding the staffing of the Greek Armed Forces with Medical Officers increasingly urgent. For a long time, the needs of the army were met through the recruitment of graduates of the medical schools of Universities. There were, however, several disadvantages to this solution, the greatest of which was the serious problems young doctors faced in adjusting to the military environment. A temporary solution was sending young high school graduates to study in the Army Medical School in Lyon, France, which, however, also posed some problems, such as the high cost of education and the different education mentality of the French Army. As a consequence of these observations, the Military Medical School was established in December 1925 by a decree of law, and started operating in 1926 in Athens.
The subsequent history of the School proved highly changeable but also interesting. The most important turning points were :
a. 1926 Establishment of the Military Medical School, seated in Athens, and operating in the installations of the 430th General Military Hospital (known as "Hope" - "Elpis")
b. 1935 Discontinuance of operation in June.
c. 1937 Establishment of the Combat Support Service Officers School, seated in Athens and operating in the French Hospital on Alexandra Avenue.
d. 1940 Discontinuance of operation upon the declaration of war.
e. 1946 Establishment of the Military Medical School on 6th June, seated in Thessaloniki. It began operating in the former German School and in the adjacent Villa Modiano near the waterfront of Thessaloniki in 1947.
f. 1958 The School was moved to its present location on 22nd December.
h. 1970 The name of the school was changed from Military Medical School to Military School of Combat Support Officers (MSCSO). The departments of Law, Economics and Recruitment were added to the already existing Health Departments (Medical, Dentistry, Veterinarian, Pharmaceutical).
Nowadays, the school has all the above departments with the exception of the department of Law. Later on, Psychology was added to the already existing Health Departments.
