TREATING WOUNDED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 37, 12 August 1914, Page 3

TREATING WOUNDED

ARRANGEMENTS ON BRITISH SHIPS IMPROVEMENTS DURING RECENT YEARS. , A grim reminder of the realities of war was contained in a recent cable message stating that preparations had been made at Grimsby for receiving men wounded in naval engagements in the North Sea. The treatment of wounded in sea actions was dealt with in a recent issue of the Navy by a retired naval surgeon of high rank. He wrote : — "Perhaps nowhere in a battleship is one made more conscious of the grim realities of war, shorn of their spectacular effects, than in those portions of the ship, far removed from the vulgar gaze, where preparation has been made for the reception and treatment of the wounded in action. The treatment of the sick and those suffering from injuries in peace is carried out in the 'sick bay, 1 which is the naval term for that portion of the ship sot apart for use as a hospital. The sick bay is always in a light and airy position in the ship, and is admirably suited for the purpose for which it is designed, viz., the treatment of the sick and those injured in peace timesj for it will readily be understood that in a ship, packed ad it is with complicated machinery, accidents must of necessity frequently happen, but the sick bay is essentially a peace establishnient and one quite unsuitable for war time. Consequently, places (for there are always more than one) have to be selected below the water-line where there is less danger of patients being shattered by shot and shell, even if there is more risk of drowning should the ship sink. "As recently as 1894 it was the usual practice to allot the ward room — which is the nless-room for the senior officers — as the place where surgical operations would be performed and the wounded treated during an action. The Battle of the Yalu, fought in September, 1894, between the Chinese and Japanese off the Yalu river, Korea, showed once and for all the folly of selecting any unprotected place for the reception or treatment of the wounded in action. The ward room of the Chinese flagship was used as an operating room, and not only were all the surgical appliances ana dressing materials destroyed, but the medical officers and their assistants in the sick berth staff were killed. The ideas of commanding officers as to the nature of surgical operations and places suitable for the performing of surgical operations were, until quite recent times, to say the least, very 'sketchy,' and, though it may seem incredible, it is none the less true, that when in 1891 the writer of these notes waß a junior surgeon (R.N.) it was still the practice to send the junior medical officer of the ship, and one of the sick berth staff away in an open boat, usually a gig or whaler, with all the surgical instruments required for major operations every time an exercise known as 'man and arm boat' was carried out. The futility of such a practice is obvious, but naval traditions and customs die slowly, and, like the arming of certain ratings with tomahawks and boarding pikes at a time when there was no prospect , of a hand-to-hand fight, this quaint custom of sending away the junior medical officer as above described survived until comparatively recent times. It was the Japanese who first thoroughly realised the importance of organisation and practice in the treatment of the wounded in action, and the Royal Navy has profited by the experience gained in the Russo-Japanese War, not only in regard to the advantage of long range heavy guns, but also as regards many details in the treatment of the wounded. For example, in the transport of the wounded the Japanese invented a light bamboo' apparatus, which could be so applied as to render any injured part immobile, and so enable a wounded man to be lowered down hatchways and other places without running the risk of aggravating his injuries. "At the present day the transport of the wounded in action, so far as a ship is concerned, has been so perfected that it can no longer be said that a man would have a better chance of recovery, if left where ho falls and not entrusted to the tender mercies of the bearers or stretcher-parties. At the present day lifts a-nd stretchers of the, most improved type conVey the wounded to certain protected poets below th« waterline. On the principle of not setting all one's eggs in one basket, the medical officers and sick berth staff are distributed in different parts, and there ar© always two fully equipped dressing stations in different parts of the ship. These posts ore deep *down in a ship, where operations of necessity can be performed under conditions Bimilar to those of a modern hospital, places where there_ is good lighting and ventilation, sterilisers for instruments, hot and cold water in abundance, and the many appliances which modern science and surgery require, and by means of which the surgeon of the present day is able to do wonders and perform operations formerly undreamt for the purpose of prolonging life and alleviating suffering. The medical service of the Navy at the present time may be considered as well organised and a 6 well prepared as any other branch of that important Service, and one cannot say more than this, where the mot d'orde is 'efficiennv.' "