Joint Medical Service (Germany)

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Joint Medical Service
Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr
Logo of the Joint Medical Service
Active	1 October 2000 – present
Country	Germany
Branch	Medical Corps
Role	Military medicine
Size	20,000 personnel (2023)[1]
Headquarters	Koblenz
Anniversaries	1 October 2000
Equipment	Hospitals and field hospitals Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles YAK Mercedes-Benz Unimog
Commanders
Inspector of the Joint Medical Service	Generaloberstabsarzt Ulrich Baumgärtner (German Army)
Stellvertretender Inspekteur des Zentralen Sanitätsdiensts der Bundeswehr	Generalstabsarzt Stephan Schoeps (German Army)
Notable commanders	Ingo Patschke

The Joint Medical Service (German: Zentraler Sanitätsdienst der Bundeswehr, short form: Zentraler Sanitätsdienst, pronounced [t͡sɛnˈtʁaːlɐ zaniˈtɛːt͡sˌdiːnst] ^ⓘ) is a part of the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of Germany and serves all three armed services (Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the Cyber and Information Domain Service). Members of the central medical corps remain members of their respective military branches. Only a few specialized medical units such as the medical care for divers and aircraft crews are not incorporated in the Joint Medical Service. Prior to 2002 each military branch had its own medical service. The services were then largely merged, forming the Joint Medical Service. In May 2021 the minister of defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer together with Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Eberhard Zorn published a plan to dissolve the Joint Medical Service and to reintegrate its units into the army, navy, airforce and cyber command.^[2]