The Ministry of Defense has updated the supplementary specialties of the Military Health Corps to include Emergency Medicine and Clinical Laboratory Medicine. The reform aligns the training and specialization of Armed Forces health-care professionals with changes made in recent years to Spain’s National Health System.
The amendment is set out in Order DEF/993/2026, published in the Official State Gazette on September 24 and effective the following day. The rule amends the catalog established in 2015 for the six core specialties within the Military Health Corps: Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry, Psychology, and Nursing.
One of the main changes affects military physicians. The Defense Ministry has added Emergency Medicine (MUE) as a supplementary specialty after the discipline was recognized as a medical specialty in Spain’s health-care system in 2024.
Its purpose will be to train professionals capable of providing immediate care to ill or injured individuals of any age, making a differential diagnosis, and initiating or planning treatment until the patient can be transferred to the appropriate specialist or level of care.
Two distinct emergency-care specialties
The addition of Emergency Medicine does not mean the elimination of Emergency Medicine in Operations (MUEO), which already existed within the military health service. Both will coexist in the catalog, although the Defense Ministry has revised their codes to distinguish them clearly.
The distinction is particularly significant given the specific features of military health care. The new MUE brings into the Military Health Corps the specialization recognized in the general health-care system, while MUEO retains its specific focus on health-care needs arising from military operations.
The update also seeks to bring military physicians’ training closer in line with the evolution of specialized health-care training in Spain. The order itself highlights the importance of residency programs in standardizing professional training and improving quality of care and procedural safety in hospital emergency departments and emergency services.
Clinical Laboratory Medicine replaces Clinical Analysis
The second significant change affects Pharmacy. The Military Health Corps is adding Clinical Laboratory Medicine as a supplementary specialty and eliminating the previous specialty of Clinical Analysis.
The amendment stems from the reform approved in 2025 for Spain’s health-care system as a whole, when the specialty of Clinical Laboratory Medicine was created by integrating Clinical Analysis and Clinical Biochemistry. The Defense Ministry is now extending that new structure to the military sphere.
The new specialty retains the powers and functions that the Armed Forces had previously associated with Clinical Analysis. Under the order, it will also enable more precise monitoring of the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments and other medical procedures.
The reorganization therefore does not mean the disappearance of laboratory analysis and diagnostic capabilities within the Armed Forces, but rather their adaptation to Spain’s new health-care specialization model.
Immunology and Hospital Radiophysics removed from the catalog
The reform also narrows the catalog in other areas. The Defense Ministry has removed Immunology from the supplementary specialties for Medicine and Hospital Radiophysics from those linked to Pharmacy.
The order justifies both removals on the grounds that these specialties are no longer considered relevant to the Military Health Corps. The decision affects only their recognition as supplementary military specialties and not the existence of these disciplines within Spain’s health-care system.
With this update, the Defense Ministry is adapting regulations that had remained in force since 2015 to the changes undergone by specialized health-care training. Military regulations specifically provide that advanced training must enable professionals to acquire new specialties, update their knowledge, and progressively adapt their preparation to the needs of the Armed Forces.
The change is particularly relevant in a field where health care must address both needs comparable to those of any health-care system and specific circumstances arising from deployments, exercises, and military operations. The coexistence of Emergency Medicine and its operations-focused specialty reflects this dual dimension of military health care.
