ORTHOPAEDIC HOSPITAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 164, 9 July 1918, Page 3

ORTHOPAEDIC HOSPITAL.

MEMBER FOR NELSON'S SPEECH RECALLED. Ae the proposed Orthopaedic hospital for our soldier-; is attracting attention throughout the Lominion. it i.-; worth noticing that this matter was first brought forward by the member for Nelson, Mr T. A. Tl. Field in -i speech on July 5, 1915, wh-n ho asked that better accommodation for sick ami 'wounded soldiers should bo provided on tile voyage out from England. He said the Minister had not only failed to answer hi.s question, but had failed in grasp tli.- importance of the matter. The point he wished to bring before the Minister was made clear in an article in the Medical Journal of Australia of the 17th .June, dealing with this question it said : "'Orthopaedic surgery was being applied as a .science, by the >frcrnian.-s; 'excellent work was being done by the Americans in France, and the Frt nch themselves were working «teadily in this direction. More recently this class of surgery has. heen pressed to the fore in England, and the jWar Office has be en taught the immense economic importance of the matter. When the men are sent home they should be st nt in special hospital ships, on board of which special orthopaedic apparatus of modern design should be provided. They should be under the charge of capable specialists >md tim . mone\, and energy should be expended in an endeavour to save the functions of the injured limbs. The successful results of this work mean the. restoration of full mechanical pow- *•■• to the individual and the saving of immen.se sums of money in pensions to the community." iir Field concluded his remarks by saying that accord in:; to thv captamn's report our sick and wounded soldiers were given the roughest part of the third class accommodation on the ship and there was only the ship's doctor to attend to them.