OPERATIONS IN FIELD

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31291, 10 February 1967, Page 3

OPERATIONS IN FIELD

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Feb. 9. A hernia operation in the field opened this morning’s surgical programme for the Army’s Wellington-based Second General Hospital under canvas at Waiouru Camp. The hospital is supporting large-scale field manoeuvres at Waiouru. A second operation to strip varicose veins later this

morning brought the total operations carried out in the field to 10.

Many of the soldiers undergoing surgery have been brought to Waiouru from camp hospitals throughout New Zealand where they have been on surgical waiting lists. The hospital’s first two operations, performed on Monday, involved emergency surgery. One soldier had cut his foot with an axe and a second had an inflamed appendix.

Hospital staff are being assisted by experts of the National Health Institute in assessing and maintaining the sterility of the tented surgical theatre. All accidents and medical cases from the large troop concentration will be handled at the hospital, although any patient beyond the unit’s capability will be taken to Wanganui or Palmerston North by military helicopter