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HOSPITAL SHIP

Refitting The Maunganui

BIG TASK NEARLY FINISHED

The Maunganui, once a passenger vessel on the transtasman run, but now being converted into a hospital ship, is expected to be ready in a few weeks’ time for her war service. The task of fitting her out is nearing completion, and a start will shortly be made in painting her hull white, with an encircling green band and three large red crosses, one on each side of the hull and one on the deck, visible to aircraft,, ' The work of conversion has involved the complete stripping and remodelling of the interior. She will be a complete hospital, with all the modern appurtenances necessary for the care of sick and wounded. Her wartime duty will be to convey New Zealand casualties home from the various theatres of war. On B deck, where passengers once promenaded, the operating block is taking shape. This is to contain everything necessary for ■ the equivu lent department in a modern hospital. Operating theatre and rooms for sterilizing, massage, X-ray, diathermy, and incidental purposes are to occupy the space where once was the music room, and nearby is to be a fullyequipped dental surgery. Further aft on the same deck are recreation rooms for officers, for men, and for nurses, and near the stern the plant is about to be installed for a complete laundry, with drying rooms and other equipment attached. C deck is being devoted mainly to wards. Cabins have been ripped out and new structures more suited to hospital requirements are rising from the chaos. A degaussing apparatus is to encircle the ship and make it immune from magnetic mines. The main dining-room is to become the main ward, and only the hanging crystal light fittings and the gilt mirrors around the walls will remain as reminders of the vessel’s passengercarrying days. Great care and close attention are being given to the building of the wards. Altogether the ship will accommodate 380 patients, and special pains have been taken to ensure the security and comfort of the men during their illness and convalescence. The beds are of the swinging cot type.

It is proposed to have each of the eight wards fitted in a different colour scheme, and where the lighting arrangements have to be changed, diffused lighting of tlie modern type will be installed over the beds. The holds which once carried cargo and luggage are being converted into quarters of various kinds. Where No. 4 hold used to be the medical corps personnel will have its accommodation, and another hold will become a messroom for the men.

At the extreme stern of the ship and on the open deck is the isolation ward, complete in itself and entirely separate from the remainder. The Maunganui will have a medical

personnel of 90, including doctors and sisters. The chief medical officer will be Colonel Murray, Auckland. The Director-General of Medical Services, Brigadier F. T. Bowerbank, Is supervising the refitting of the ship. The work of refitting the Maunganui is being carried out at the Wellington patent slip, Evans Bay,

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19410307.2.19

Bibliographic details

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 138, 7 March 1941, Page 5

Word Count
515

HOSPITAL SHIP Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 138, 7 March 1941, Page 5

HOSPITAL SHIP Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 138, 7 March 1941, Page 5