Qui Nhon Hospital In Need Of Linen

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31366, 11 May 1967, Page 8

Qui Nhon Hospital In Need Of Linen

The Qui Nhon Hospital in South Vietnam, where the New Zealand surgical team works, tends to get some gruesome publicity, but what is not properly understood is that the New Zealanders are not in charge and cannot interfere directly with the running of the hospital, the leader of the team (Dr. P. H. E. Smith) says in a letter to the Christchurch branch of Medical Aid Abroad. “We serve by treating the endless war casualties, civilians only, and teaching by example,” he writes. “To cope with the needs we really need a hospital twice the size, with about five times the South Vietnamese Staff, and time is the only thing which will solve this. “Naturally if the war casualties were to cease, then the hospital could begin to serve the needs of the sick.” Dr. Smith mentions two important needs operatingtheatre linen and a portable orthopaedic table. The operating-theatre linen, including surgeons* suits and caps and theatre drapes of all sorts, is very stained and worn, and it would help to create better conditions in the theatres if it could be renewed, Dr. Smith says. Surgi-

cal drapes of all sorts are needed and should be blue or green because the linen gets stained and laundering is poor.

Dr. P. Kelleher, chairman of the allocation committee of Medical Aid Abroad, estimates that the linen will cost £2OO. The Roman Catholic Overseas Aid Committee in Christchurch has contributed £5O.

Since the organisation was formed early in 1965 more than £32,000 worth of supplies has been given by doctors, chemists, and hospitals in Canterbury. All the material has been shipped to clinics, hospitals, and missions in Asia and the Pacific.