THE UNCEASING CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 60, 4 December 1942, Page 4

THE UNCEASING CAMPAIGN

The information given by Brigadier Kenrick, until tecently Director of Medical Services. 2nd N.Z.E.F., will have gone a long way to assure the relatives and friends of men serving overseas that everything possible is being done for the benefit of the- sick and wounded. The war has shown in a terrible manner how the inventive genius of man has been turned to the perfecting of weapons of destruction, but there is also an unceasing campaign'of a humanitarian order which rises to meet the occasion. The tiansfefence 0 many wounded men from the very battle areas to the base hospitals by air will have obviated many long and painful journeys, often ovei roads and rougher country, which constituted an ordeal for the°sufferers. Blood transfusions in the forward areas have saved lives and the. increased use of plaster-of-paris for fractures will have lessened the possibility of further injury during the period of transportation. . . Sulphanilamide powder has been frequently mentioned in the treatment of wounds, and its discovery in recent years must be put down as a great advance. Brigadier Kenrick outlined the system adopted with regard to serious wounds and explained how, by the use of saline baths, the former sometimes painful process of removing dressings had been avoided. The dressings float off in the bath and the saline cleans the wound. During the last few weeks a further development has' been reported from the United States, mvo ving the use of transparent bandages, which will enable the medical officers to examine wounds without the complete removal of dressings. And hand-in-hand with these things goes the improvement in the transporting of wounded. The more serious cases, while under the effects of a drug, can be conveyed rapidly to the clearing station or even tbe base hospital. And this campaign against pain will go on when the war is a thing of the past. It has been said that the knowledge gained by the medical officers in 1914-18 has been of lasting value to medicine and surgery, and possibly still greater advances may be anticipated now. It is the other side, the constructive and humanitarian side, of the grim picture of war. As the brigadier stated, it takes no cognisance of rank, the only test being the urgency of the need. It will be comforting to those who have relatives or friends setwing with the forces. to know that medical skill is being so effectively mobilized for the assistance of all who become casualties, and there is the general satisfaction of knowing that in days to come these discoveries, treatments and services will be available at all times for the prevention of suffering.