WORK OF DOCTORS IN WAR: GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 October 1948, Page 5

WORK OF DOCTORS IN WAR: GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS

(Recd. 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 7. In World War 11, once a wounded man had come into the care of the Army Medical Service, the odds on his living were more, than 10 to one, said Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, speaking to students' at the annual prize-giving of Charing Cross Hospital. “The main contributing factors towards saving life in the last war were penicillin, blood transfusion and surgical teams working well forward in the battle areas, nursing sisters working right up in the forward areas and air evacuation of casualties.” he said. One Of Few Benefits

“One of the few real benefits that mankind gains from fighting wars derives from the opportunities granted to the medical profession to improve its methods of fighting sickness and spread of disease. The progress made id the last war was probably unequalled in the whole history of the medical profession. “In the First World War the average annual admission to hospitals per 1000 men on account of diseases and accidental injury in France and Flanders was 647. In the Second World War, in 1945 the figure was 231 —a reduction of about 75 per cent. “Quite Remarkable”

“There is no doubt that during the Second World War the number of lives saved through surgical skill and modern developments was quite remarkable. In the First World War 80 per cent, of/the men with abdominal wounds died. In the Second World War 80 per cent, lived.” Field Marshal Montgomery said the most striking progress of all made in recent years had been in the control of malaria, and the rate of incidence among troops in West Africa, for instance, had fallen from 900 per 1000 in. 1941 to 90 per 1000 in 1946.