CARE OF WOUNDED AT SEA

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 93, 16 October 1914, Page 2

CARE OF WOUNDED AT SEA

I * HOSPITAL SHIPS BRITAIN'S NEED IN THE GREAT CRISIS. j USE OF LINERS. It seems a little in the way of an anachronism that in modern days (says the j medical correspondent of the Standard) the authorities of big naval Powers should have to rely upon the rapid trahßformation of liners to provide the necessary hospital ships in war time. Yet such is the case, and the system works with sufficient smoothness, although en» tailing an output of feverish energy at the beginning of things. In our land campaign in South Africa the P. and 0. liner Simla was thus transformed in a period of seven days, and sailed with her freight of invalids ten days after her arrival at Durban, having her main deck fitted with a series of wards to accommodate about 250 patients. Without giving other particulars, we may note with satisfaction that during the present crisis a liner was commandeered, brought some distance to a port, her stores, equipment, and staff shipped, necessary alterations made, and everything held in readiness for dealing with nearly the same number of wounded as on the Simla in only forty-eight hours. | JAPAN'S EXAMPLE. In the late Russo-Japanese war Japan followed the same custom of transforming passenger vessels into hospital ships. Through the medium of the United States Government she informed Russia of her intention of putting the two steamships Saikio Maru and Kobe Maru into the service of her navy as ships for the sole purpose of giving relief to the sick and wounded and shipwrecked. Each of these two ships wa» provided with equipment sufficient for the reception of 178 patients. Need it be said that the accommodation proved made* quate ? Masters of organisation as the Japanese proved themsely.es in rapid transition of the sick as in. aught, else, there j was inevitable overcrowding on these hospital ships. There is, of necessity, a | great deal to be accomplished in the pro« ; cess of transforming a luxurious lmer j into a vessel adapied to surgical and medical requirements. It is analogous to turning an hotel into a hospital. It would seem better that naval Powers should be provided with a sufficient num,ber of such ready-equipped vessels maintained in commission, and of plentiful accommodation, rather than have to rely upon the hurried impressment of unprepared vessels into the service. TRANSFORMING- A LINER. It is interesting to note briefly the ar-' rangements that were made upon these vessels. The hurricane deck carried a steam launch and boats, water tanks, special hatches for t"he comings and goings of patients, and davits for hoisting the latter aboard. Aft of the funnel a promenade was kept for those sufficient' ly well -to use 7E. On the upper deck many changes, had to be made. The cabin passengers' bathroom, after certain reconstruction, was converted , into a mortuary. Partitions had to be removed between the smoking-room and two adjoining cabins in order to make one room, which was they divided equally'by'a newly-erected partition into an operating room and a preparing room for the patients. There was a lift for the patients on the port side. In addition, on this deck there were equipped pathological, bacteriological, and chemical laboratories, a steriliser for surgical dressings, an X-ray room, a dispensary, a, repair shop for surgical instruments, an out-patient room, and other details. The surgical and medical wards were situated on the middle deck. The former consisted of a large 6pace provided by amalgamating two cabins on the port side, six on the starboard, and the rirst-claes passengers' dining-room. The steerage passengers' room became the medical ward. Other offices were alec- provided on this deck. On the lower deck were the clothing store, provision room, cold storage room, ice-making tank, and other offices con cerned with the ship's economy. LESSONS FROM WAR. The chief surgeon on hoard the Saikio Maru, Dr. Y. Ota, made some interesting criticisms which have doubtless borne fruit at the preseht juncture. On account of the cramped space, serious and slight cases were simultaneously accommodated, the former being prevented from taking quiet rest and the latter necessarily being subjected to— for them— unnecessary restraint, while there was no space for the boon of a recreation room. N With wards filled to overflowing, frequent passages home were essential, leaving insufficient time for thorough treatment of the patients while on boaTd. Dr. Ota could not say that the vessel was able to discharge the full duties of a hospital ship to a large fleet, but thought she rather fulfilledmerely the role of a transport for conveyance of the sick and wounded. Larger capacity was evidently needed. He also drew attention to the necessity for distinctive night-signs for such a ship. In the rear of a fleet on the offensive the ship would incur little danger, b"ut with a fleet on the defenfiive she would Tun considerable risk of attack from hostile vessels, unless some special sign weTe shown at night to indicate her benevolent character.