GERMAN WOUNDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24104, 24 October 1941, Page 8

GERMAN WOUNDED

SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS OVERCROWDING IN HOSPITALS LONDON, Oct. 22 Informed quarters in London, states the British official wireless, confirm reports of serious overcrowding of hospitals throughout not only Germany, but all occupied countries as a' result of the stream of German wounded returning from the eastern front. There is also evidence ot a shortage-in Germany of both medical supplies "and medical personnel. Formerly Jews formed a large portion of Germany's medical profession, and the present shortage is partly due to the wholesale eviction of dews from Gorrhanv." "Furthermore, few young men have been spared irom military duties to enter the medical profession, with the result that in Germany nurses are now doing very largely the job of doetors. Kxhortations have been made to the public not to call lor doctors unless they are urgently needed. At the same time Germany has been trving to net Swiss nurses to go to the eastern front, and the Germans report that a certain number have volunteered. As a result of the known German shortage of textiles Germans are suffering from lack of bandages. lodine, -which was largely imported from Chile, and quinine, which Germany to import from the Netherlands East Indies, are both now short.

In Greece, and to a lesser extent in Libya and Southern Russia, malaria is reported to be prevalent. Dysentery is another disease, the widespread incidence of which is causing the German's a certain amount of alarm.