The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt Part 3

A beautifully constructed private hospital, the Austrian Hospital at Choubra, was commandeered and staffed by the First Australian General Hospital, and provided 250 beds. This hospital also was, however, soon transferred to the Imperial authorities, and administered as a British hospital.

As the demand for accommodation for infectious cases increased, the artillery barracks at Abba.s.sia were taken over by the Australian authorities, and converted into an Infectious Diseases Hospital which ultimately accommodated 1,250 patients.

The needs continuing to press, the Montazah Palace at Alexandria was offered by His Highness the Sultan to Lady Graham as a convalescent hospital. The offer was gratefully accepted by the combined British and Australian Branches of the Red Cross Society. It is the only hospital in Egypt in the administration of which the Australian Red Cross takes part.

In addition to these major activities, there were many other minor changes. The introduction of cholera from Gallipoli was feared, and in the grounds of the Casino a cholera hospital was erected in antic.i.p.ated need, under the direction of the Board of Public Health, Egypt.

Fortunately it was never required, but it was ready for use, and would have been staffed by the First Australian General Hospital.

The final result, then, of all these expansions was as follows. The 520-bed hospital which landed in Egypt on January 25 had expanded into:

Beds

Heliopolis Palace Hotel 1,000 Luna Park 1,650 Atelier 450 Sporting Club 1,250 Choubra Infectious 250 Abba.s.sia Infectious 1,250 Venereal Diseases, Abba.s.sia 2,000 Al Hayat, Helouan (Convalescent) 1,250 Ras el Tin (Convalescent) 500 Montazah Palace (Convalescent, Australian moiety) 500 Grand Hotel, Helouan 500 ------ (Approximately) 10,600 ======

Almost the whole of this work was undertaken by the staff originally intended to manage a 520-bed hospital, at all events until the latest developments. Reinforcements did not arrive until June 15, and even then they were not long available.

To house the reinforcements of nurses two other buildings were taken at Heliopolis: Gordon House, opposite Luna Park, and the Palace of Prince Ibrahim Khalim, on the outskirts of Heliopolis.

It will be noted that the greater part of the expansion took place in the immediate vicinity of the Palace Hotel. This step was alike deliberate and necessary, for reasons that will be explained hereafter.

METHODS ADOPTED IN ORGANISING HOSPITALS

The methods adopted in organising these hospitals varied. In the first instance Lieut.-Col. Barrett was deputed by the D.M.S. Egypt to seek for the necessary buildings, and when these were approved to negotiate with the owners respecting the rent. This proceeding proved very tedious and difficult, and in pursuance of a General Army Order another and simpler plan was adopted by the appointment of an arbitration commission under the chairmans.h.i.+p of Sir Alexander Baird. To this commission the determination of rent and compensation was referred when the acquisition of the buildings received the sanction of the Commander-in-Chief. It need hardly be said that a good deal of tact was necessary in these proceedings, and every attempt was made to meet the wishes of owners with regard to the buildings commandeered.

Up till June 15 the number of nurses available was small, and it became quite obvious that, owing to the rush of sick and wounded, and the hot weather, some of the nurses would experience a breakdown. Lieut.-Col.

Barrett accordingly visited Alexandria, and arranged with the Australian and Egyptian branches of the British Red Cross Society to take over and equip two buildings as Rest Homes. These houses had been generously offered for this purpose to Her Excellency Lady MacMahon, wife of the High Commissioner for Egypt. One of these buildings was a large house belonging to a distinguished Egyptian and was situated in Ramleh, not very far from the beach, and the other was about eight miles from Alexandria at Aboukir Bay, the site of Nelson's victory. The latter consisted of a large seaside bungalow owned by Mr. Alderson, with an excellently fitted house-boat anch.o.r.ed some little distance from the sh.o.r.e.

The Australian Government undertook to pay for the maintenance of the nurses in these homes, which were placed under the management of a joint committee of the two branches of the Red Cross Society, under the presidency of Lady MacMahon. Nurses were then sent to these homes for a week at a time, and derived great benefit from the sea-bathing. These vacations formed a welcome and healthy break in work of excessive severity.

The following table indicates the dates of the princ.i.p.al changes which took place in the First Australian General Hospital.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN GENERAL HOSPITAL

January 14.--Arrived at Alexandria.

January 24.--Arrived at Heliopolis.

February 7.--Established Aerodrome Camp.

April 6.--Luna Park taken over.

April 19.--Established Venereal Hospital, Abba.s.sia.

April 26.--The Casino taken over.

April 29.--Arrival of wounded.

May 1.--Prince Ibrahim Khalim's Palace taken over.

May 5.--Al Hayat Hotel taken over.

May 26.--The Atelier taken over.

May 27.--Gordon House taken over.

June 10.--Sporting Club taken over.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPORTING CLUB, HELIOPOLIS.

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THE POLICY OF EXPANSION

It has frequently been said in criticism of the Auxiliary Hospitals that it would have been better to have taken over Shepheard's Hotel, or the Savoy. Neither Shepheard's nor the Savoy (particularly the former) is very suitable for hospital purposes, since hotels containing a large number of small rooms involve much labour, and consequently a large staff, and the authorities were faced with the fact that there was no staff available. Surgeon-General Williams had cabled to Australia for reinforcements long before the crisis, but the reinforcements did not arrive until the middle of June. Clearly the sound policy was to obtain buildings as close to Heliopolis as possible, to administer them with a small staff, and to use them as overflow hospitals. Shepheard's or the Savoy would have required a very large staff, and it was not existent.

Even at Helouan the employment of civilians as officers was necessary in order to carry on. Arab servants were extensively employed by reason of the shortage of staff. They acted as menservants, sweepers, and the like.

MOTOR AMBULANCES

When the _Kyarra_ arrived in Egypt the British authorities did not possess any motor transport. There were some motor ambulances belonging to the New Zealand authorities and a few motor ambulances which accompanied the hospitals on the _Kyarra_, and which had been allotted to special units. It became obvious, however, that units might be placed in circ.u.mstances in which they did not require their ambulances, and others in circ.u.mstances in which they required more than their share; and accordingly Surgeon-General Williams decided to park the whole of these motor ambulances in two garages, a major one at Heliopolis and a smaller one at Ghezira, near No. 2 General Hospital. The garage at Heliopolis held at least thirty motor ambulances. It belonged to the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, and was equipped and furnished with a repairing plant at the expense of the Australian branch of the British Red Cross.

The Ghezira garage was dealt with in like manner, and in addition the rent was paid in the first instance by the Australian branch of the British Red Cross. The organisation of these garages involved considerable difficulty. The drivers employed were not recruited by the Commonwealth Government as belonging to the motor transport, since there was not any motor ambulance establishment, and they consequently only received the ordinary private's pay. Furthermore promotions were very difficult to effect. Nevertheless they saved the position. For a long while Egypt was absolutely dependent on these motor fleets for the removal of the sick and wounded, British or Australian. The work was excessive but the drivers responded splendidly. Difficulties arose through different units endeavouring to commandeer motor ambulances for their own use. This was met by a decision of the D.M.S. Egypt that ambulances were to be kept in the garages, and telephoned for when necessary. From the outset, the lack of runabout motors was severely felt, and ambulances were frequently employed for purposes which would have been better effected by runabouts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FLEET OF AMBULANCES, HELIOPOLIS.

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THE ARRIVAL OF THE SICK AND WOUNDED FROM THE FRONT

The end of April was reached. The bulk of the forces had disappeared from Egypt, and their position was only known by rumour; the hospital was gradually emptied of patients; Mena Camp had been abandoned, and Maadi Camp was reduced to small proportions. The weather was beautiful, and any one might have been easily lulled into a sense of false security. On April 28, however, a train-load of sick arrived. Its contents were not known until it arrived at the Heliopolis siding. The patients had come from Mudros, and numbered over 200 sick, including some 60 venereal cases, a matter of some interest in the light of subsequent events.

On the following day, however, without notice or warning of any description, wounded began to arrive in appalling numbers. On April 30 and May 1 and 2 no less than 1,352 cases were admitted at Heliopolis.

The expansion already indicated at Luna Park was at once effected, and some relief was obtained by transferring the lighter cases to Mena House--some seventeen miles distant. The last train-load of wounded arrived in the early morning of May 2, and deserves special notice, as many of the men were very seriously injured. There were about 100 cases; the train arrived at midnight, and was emptied by 4 o'clock in the morning. The bearing of the men badly injured was past praise. At 4 a.m. the main operating-room of the hospital bore eloquent testimony to the gravity of the work, which had been going on for many hours, and the exhausted condition of the staff further demonstrated what had occurred.

The staff at the hospital was quite inadequate to cope with the rush, notwithstanding the willingness of every one concerned, and accordingly volunteers from some of the Field Ambulances, and from the Light Horse units which were still in Egypt, were called for and readily obtained.

With the aid of the volunteers and by dint of universal devotion to duty the work was done, and on the whole done well.

The following table shows the staff available from April 2 to August 18, and the work required of it:

STAFF, ETC., OF NO. 1 GENERAL HOSPITAL AT HELIOPOLIS, INCLUDING AUXILIARY HOSPITALS

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- Date. Officers. Nurses. Rank and Patients. No. of File. Beds.

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- April 25 28 92 163 495 893 26 29 92 187 504 893 27 28 92 184 479 897 28 28 92 184 479 895 29 28 92 197 631 925 30 28 92 204 1,082 1,100[1]

May 1 26 92 216 1,324 1,100 2 26 92 236 1,465 3 32 92 236 1,425 4 28 109 221 1,427 5 30 107 221 1,389 6 30 107 209 1,362 2,108 7 30 107 198 1,353 8 30 107 198 1,454 9 29 107 201 1,432 10 26 107 201 1,485 11 26 107 209 1,618 2,493

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OPERATING ROOM, HELIOPOLIS PALACE HOTEL.

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--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- Date. Officers. Nurses. Rank and Patients. No. of File. Beds.

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- May 12 26 107 209 1,846 2,487 13 28 107 249 2,293 2,592 14 29 107 244 2,302 2,726 15 29 107 244 2,218 2,705 16 32 107 261 2,208 2,679 17 30 107 259 2,165 2,646 18 30 107 252 2,187 2,940 19 30 107 274 1,911 20 30 107 302 1,904 21 29 107 290 1,889 22 29 107 287 1,856 23 29 107 287 1,812 24 29 104 287 1,811 25 32 104 299 1,777 26 32 104 295 1,768 27 32 104 295 1,805 28 32 104 317 1,781 29 35 143 319 1,931 30 35 143 322 1,918 31 35 143 322 1,820 June 1 35 143 322 1,876 2 35 143 315 1,873 3 36 143 314 1,869 4 36 147 277 1,866 5 35 147 277 1,872 6 36 147 264 1,786 7 36 147 264 1,627 8 34 147 253 1,709 9 34 147 253 2,474 2,805 10 32 133 247 2,211 11 32 133 247 2,605 12 32 133 262 2,375 13 32 133 263 2,384 14 34 133 264 2,324 15 34 133 264 2,324 16 54[2] 171[3] 463[4] 2,269 17 54 171 463 2,328 18 55 165 462 2,259 19 55 165 449 2,266 20 55 165 443 2,339 21 55 165 439 2,335 22 55 165 439 2,357

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- Date. Officers. Nurses. Rank and Patients. No. of File. Beds.

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+------- June 23 55 165 439 2,159 24 55 165 438 2,157 25 55 163 438 2,003 26 55 163 429 1,926 27 55 163 429 1,887 28 55 163 429 2,121 29 54 163 429 2,150 30 55 163 429 2,135 July 1 55 163 430 2,332 2,956 2 58 163 430 2,305 3 58 163 405 2,187 4 55 163 403 2,131 5 55 163 395 2,131 6 55 157 325 2,032 7 55 157 395 1,982 8 56 157 395 2,107 9 55 157 397 2,120 10 56 157 393 2,145 11 56 157 399 2,115 12 52 157 399 2,072 13 52 155 394 2,130 14 52 155 394 2,087 15 52 155 391 2,101 16 52 153 407 1,930 17 51 155 410 1,885 18 51 153 561 1,785 19 73 234 616 1,713 20 73 234 616 1,782 21 79 231 565 1,716 22 79 231 374 1,487 23 78 223 570 1,450 24 75 226 568 1,476 25 75 226 548 1,438 26 75 226 548 1,447 27 74 226 555 1,434 28 74 226 555 1,692 29 75 226 544 1,695 30 75 224 449 1,452 31 70 224 457 1,362 Aug. 1 70 224 457 1,588 2,876 2 70 224 457 1,610 3 71 224 447 1,652 4 71 224 447 1,631 5 61 224 447 1,759 6 60 224 456 1,731

UNLOADING THE HOSPITAL TRAIN, HELIOPOLIS SIDING.

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--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+-------- Date. Officers. Nurses. Rank and Patients. No. of File. Beds.

--------+---------+--------+---------+----------+-------- Aug. 7 60 224 456 1,793 8 60 224 424 1,927 9 59 224 432 1,902 10 58 224 432 339[5] 11 357 12 542 13 42 216 416 454 14 47 216 462 504 15 45 216 462 535 16 45 216 480 587 17 47 216 484 485 18 48 216 460 470