The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt. Deane Percival Edgar
tackle a job of the kind can fully appreciate the bewilderment caused by the mystic letters A.D. of S. and T., D.A.A. and Q.M.G., and the like, with all they connote. The Imperial officers saw the difficulties and were kindly and helpful to a remarkable degree.
The hospital was opened on January 25, with provision for 200 patients. The first patient to be admitted was suffering from eye disease. An ophthalmic department was opened on the first floor, providing accommodation for out-patients as well as in-patients. As there were few oculists and aurists in Egypt at this juncture other than those at this hospital, the department rapidly assumed formidable proportions. The solid floors, lofty rooms, shuttered windows, and provision of electric light lent themselves to the creation of an excellent ophthalmic department.
The number of soldiers within easy distance of Heliopolis was not very great. Nevertheless patients, mostly medical cases, made their appearance in steadily increasing numbers, especially as Mena House was soon filled, and was limited in its accommodation.
With the arrival of the Second Australian Division in Egypt, and of subsequent reinforcements, the pressure on the First Australian General Hospital intensified, since these new arrivals went into camp at or near Heliopolis. The hotel rooms were filled with valuable furniture, including large carpets. From the outset it was arranged that neither carpets nor curtains were to be retained, and that the only hotel furniture which was to be used was beds and bedding for the officers and nurses. Everything else was stored away in various rooms. Up to this period the belief in official circles was that the First Australian General Hospital would soon be moved to France, and that it was consequently unwise to expand further, or to spend any considerable sum of money. The pressure, however, steadily continued, and when the Dardanelles campaign commenced, orders were given for the immediate expansion of the hospital to meet the ever-growing requirements of the troops. In order to effect this development the whole of the hotel furniture was moved into corridors of the building. Subsequently it was taken from the building and stored elsewhere, a difficult proceeding involving a great deal of labour.
On February 7 a New Zealand Field Ambulance which had taken charge of the venereal cases in camp, nearly 250 in number, was summarily ordered to the Suez Canal. Orders were given on that evening at 9 p.m. that the tent equipment of the First Australian General Hospital was to be erected at the Aerodrome Camp (about three-quarters of a mile distant), and that the hospital was to staff and equip a Venereal Diseases Camp by 2 p.m. the following day. By this time, too, large numbers of cases of measles had made their appearance, and it was quite clear that some provision must be made for these and other infectious cases. Accordingly another camp was pitched alongside the Venereal Camp for the accommodation of those suffering from infectious diseases. By direction of the D.M.S. Egypt, a senior surgeon was appointed to command the camp, and was given the services of two medical officers, one in connection with the venereal cases, and one in connection with the infectious cases. Definite orders were given that such cases were not to be admitted into the General Hospital.
The camp was no sooner pitched than it was filled, and the demand on the accommodation for venereal and other cases rose until upwards of 400 venereal cases, and 100 infectious cases – chiefly measles – were provided for. A good deal of difficulty was experienced in suitably providing for the serious measles cases in camp, and accordingly a limited number of tents were erected in the hospital grounds, and a small camp was formed in that position, and placed under the charge of a nursing sister. To this camp all serious cases of infectious disease, and all cases with complications, were immediately transferred. It may be said in passing that the cases treated in this way did exceedingly well.
The number of venereal cases would have wholly out-stepped the accommodation had it not been for the policy adopted by the D.M.S. Egypt. All venereal cases not likely to recover rapidly were sent back to Australia, or (on one occasion) to Malta.
The hospital, then, at this juncture consisted of the main building, in which the accommodation was being steadily extended by the utilisation of all the rooms, and of the venereal and infectious diseases camp.
The first khamsin, however, which blew warned every one concerned that patients could not be treated satisfactorily in tents in midsummer. At the request of the medical officer in charge, two rooms in one wing of the main building were given over to bad infectious cases, and the camp in the grounds was abolished. The arrangement was unsatisfactory. The cases did not do as well as might have been desired, though this was attributed to an alteration in their type; and renewed efforts were made to devise a better arrangement. Finally a portion of the Abbassia barracks was obtained, and converted into an excellent venereal diseases hospital to which the venereal cases were transferred.
The Mena camp had been struck, and the troops sent to the Dardanelles; the First and Second Stationary hospitals had moved to Mudros; and the First Casualty Clearing Station had been transferred to the Dardanelles. Consequently the pressure fell almost entirely on the First General Hospital, and the Venereal Diseases Hospital thus became the only Venereal Diseases Hospital in Egypt.
Close to the Palace Hotel there was a large pleasure resort, known as the Luna Park, at one end of which was a large wooden skating-rink, enclosed by a balcony on four sides. This building was obtained, and was railed off from the rest of Luna Park by a fence 13 feet high. The infectious cases from the camp were then transferred to it. A camp kitchen was built, and an admirable open-air infectious diseases hospital was obtained. It became obvious, however, that the skating-rink, which with the balcony could accommodate, if necessary, 750 patients, might better serve as an overflow hospital in case of emergency, and accordingly efforts were made to obtain another infectious diseases hospital in the vicinity.
Eventually a fine building known as the Race Course Casino, a few hundred yards from the Heliopolis Palace, was obtained and converted into an infectious diseases hospital providing for the accommodation of about 200 patients. With its ample piazzas and excellent ventilation it formed an ideal hospital, and was reluctantly abandoned at a later date owing to the development of structural defects which threatened its stability.
The position, then, at this stage was that the First Australian General Hospital consisted of (1) the Palace Hotel, ever increasing in its accommodation as the furniture was steadily removed and space economised, its magnificent piazzas utilised, and tents erected in the grounds for the accommodation of the staff; of (2) the rink at Luna Park, which was now empty and ready for the reception of light cases overflowing from the Palace; of (3) the Casino next door to Luna Park, which had now become an infectious diseases hospital; and of (4) the Venereal Diseases Hospital at Abbassia, which soon became an independent command though still staffed from No. 1 General Hospital.
At or shortly before this period, however, the authorities had become aware that wounded might be received from the Dardanelles at some future date in considerable numbers, which could not, however, be accurately estimated. Accordingly a consultation was held between Surgeon-General Ford and Surgeon-General Williams (who arrived in Egypt in February), Colonel Sellheim, who was the officer commanding the newly formed Australian Intermediate Base, the O.C. of the First Australian General Hospital, Lieut. – Col. Ramsay Smith, and Lieut. – Col. Barrett. It was decided to authorise the expenditure of a considerable sum of money in making the necessary preparation, on the ground that if the wounded did not arrive the Australian Government would justify this action, and that if the wounded did arrive a reasonable attempt would have been made to meet the difficulty. Instructions were accordingly given to buy up beds, bedding, and equipment, which would inter alia provide at least another 150 beds in the Infectious Diseases Hospital and 750 in the rink. At first iron beds were purchased, but it was impossible to obtain deliveries of iron beds at a rate exceeding 120 a week, and there were (practically) none ready made in Egypt. It was during this period of expansion that the donation of 130 beds made to Lieut. – Col. Ramsay Smith in Adelaide proved to be so useful.
It was, therefore, quite certain that full provision could not be made in time if iron beds were to be used, and accordingly large purchases of palm beds were made. These are very strong, stoutly constructed beds, made of palm wood. They are quite comfortable and last for several months. The drawback is that they are liable ultimately to become vermin-infected and that their sharp projecting