HOSPITAL IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 281, 22 August 1940, Page 3

HOSPITAL IN EGYPT

Abandoned Hotel For Use Of N.Z.E.F.

SKILFUL CONVERSION

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.)

EGYPT, August 5. On. July 31. at 3.23 p.m., the first New Zealand ambulance of a long convoy pulled up opposite what till recently was the leading hotel of the thermal town of Ilelwan. Today it is New Zealand’s first stationary hospital in Egypt. Ilelwan is a small but attractive township about 15 kilometres north of Mandi. From Mandi, where our troops are camped, Ilelwan is accessible either by level bitumen road or by train. For many years if. was a tourist attraction because of t'he'sulphiir springs which well up in the centre of the town. People came from all parts to bathe their rheumaticky joints or to dispel from their bodies ills which wore likely to be relieved under the influence of these springs. Latterly, however, the tourist trade had languished and the great and imposing hotel had been empty for some years. When the New Zealand doctors first visited it they saw long corridors and large halls and rooms coated with the inevitable dust; the ceilings and walls were discoloured, * the lighting and plumbing were hardly effective. It was, indeed, a depressing spectacle. Today the scene has changed. A modern hospital has emerged where the patients may receive the most skilled attention under the most favourable conditions. The hospital, called the No. 4 New Zealand General Hospital, stands on a large square block of land. One enters from the street up a Hight of marble steps and walks along a broad terrace to the building. At present this terrace stretches right across the main entrance. probably -10 feet in width Soon, however, two additional wards will be erected on either side of the terrace. On the left side there is a gently-rising ramp leading into the building past the ward master’s room to the patients’ reception room. The Building Described. One is struck at once by the high stud of the hallway dome. On the right is the matron’s room, with the assistant’s next door, and immediately past -is a short passage leading past the registrar’s room to the commanding officer’s room. On the left-hand side of the hall are the reception, examination and office rooms. Walking along the hall we come to the cross passages with the great dining hall immediately in front. A new lift is being installed at the crossways large enough to takfe a stretcher case. Down the corridor on the left-hand side is a series of rooms converted into bedrooms for patients classified as medical cases, in contrast to surgical cases. At. the end of this corridor there is another long corridor running back toward the street, where there is a further series of bedrooms also set aside for medical cases. A special cookery service is established in this part of the hospital; there is another for the surgical ward, which lies on the opposite side of the hotel. The rooms in the surgical division are much the same as those set aside for the medical cases.

One of the most imposing features Is the general dining-room, which it is estimated could seat at one sitting 300 patients. The hospital itself will take as many as 600 patients, half ot .which it is estimated will not be confined to> their beds. It is a square hall, well lit, and out. of the windows can be seen the tall tropical trees in the gardens. The kitchen which cooks the food for the patients who are able to leave their beds for meals is just beyond, and is well set up with modern contrivances to make the arduous task of cooking in this hot country as easy as possible. A great cooking range is installed in the centre of the room, which is about as large as the dining-hall itself, and all round the walls are the usual accessories associated with a modern hotel kitchen One other room deserves mention. Near the dining hall entrance’ are rooms set aside for a diet kitchen where the foods demanded for patients suffering from some special diseases may be prepared. On the landing of the first floor is a well-stocked library for the patients. Immediately over the ground floor entrance is a terrace on which the patients may recline. The plan of the corridor on the first floor is the same as on the ground floor. At present one room serves as an operating theatre, but in a few weeks the wing of the right-hand corridor will consist of three theatres and a large room for the use of the sister in charge, as well as the other necessary accommodation. At the end of the theatre corridor is the plaster room. The rest of the first floor comprises ward rooms for patients. Over the dining hall is another great room prepared as a ward for 40 patients. The second floor is set aside mostly for sick and wounded officers, though at the end of the main corridor there is a special bay for sick nurses. Panorama From the Roof. The roof of this building is flat and easily accessible, and from it a glorious panorama presents itself. Beyond the walls of the town the distant Nile, running south to north, can be seen, with the deep green band of vegetation on both its banks. Beyond may be seen the arid desert framed by a steep and bare range of hills which seem almost to surround the town. Gazing down on the township below are huge cactus plants. The date palms rise to incredible heights and the large bunches of fruit are rapidly ripening. On the ground there are a number of wards, and plans for new buildings are now being carried out. There are some other wards which will be used for special classes of patients. It is worth noticing that in the architect’s plan of one of these small wards appears the following direction: —“These huts tire t.o be sited so as to miss existing trees and soakage pits. Trees may, however, pass through veranda roofs.” On the south-west corner of the ground the quartermaster h:rs his storerooms. There, too, is the powerhouse and accommodation for any Egyptian staff that may be employed. In the front on both sides of the main entrance are gardens which no doubt will improve under the care of convalescent patients, apart from native gardeners.

Thus has been eroctml out. of » disn«cd hotel a modern military hospital. The work has entailed much skill and long con,sideration, but the result has surpassed even 'the most, optimistic hopes of those concerned in its creation. There are three other buildings forming part, of the hospital premises. There is u separate building for a. nurses’ home, another for the officers of iho hospital staff, and another hotel lias been taken over to house tiie general staff. The hospital is now housing about 201) New Z'.'iland soldiers, who, in the great convoy Io which I have referred, were conveyed from it British general military hospital in another pari of Egypt. The whole of tiie stall' of No. 1 New Zealand Genera 1 , no-pital arc New Zealnrulers.

(Pictures, on page 7.)