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Commentary - Chapter IV : Personnel
    [p.217] CHAPTER IV


    MEDICAL PERSONNEL

    The medical personnel and chaplains (1) referred to in the present Convention, in which they form the subject of a special Chapter, are those forming part of the armed forces in the field. They do not include civilian staff, or medical personnel and chaplains of forces at sea, such personnel being dealt with in the Second and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949.
    Personnel protected by the present Convention comprise the following six categories:

    1. Medical personnel of the armed forces exclusively engaged in the
    search for, or the collection, transport or treatment of the
    wounded and sick, or in the prevention of disease (Article 24 ).

    2. Personnel of the armed forces exclusively engaged in the
    administration of medical units and establishments (Article 24 ).

    3. Chaplains attached to the armed forces (Article 24 ).

    4. The staff of National Red Cross Societies and other recognized
    relief societies, employed on the same duties as the personnel
    mentioned under 1, 2 and 3, and subject to military laws and
    regulations (Article 26 ).

    5. Personnel of relief societies of neutral countries, who lend
    their assistance to a belligerent and are duly authorized to do
    so (Article 27 ).

    6. Members of the armed forces specially trained for employment, in
    case of emergency, as hospital orderlies, nurses or auxiliary
    stretcher-bearers (Article 25 ).

    [p.218] Personnel in the last of these categories are known as "auxiliary personnel", as opposed to "permanent personnel" (see title of Article 24 ) -- a term which is sometimes used to describe the personnel in the first five categories.


    * (1) [(1) p.217] For the sake of brevity, the term "medical
    personnel" used hereafter is understood to include the
    chaplains;