FLOATING’ HOSPITALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26028, 17 December 1945, Page 4

FLOATING’ HOSPITALS

SYSTEM IN PACIFIC WAR MEDICAL PROBLEM SOLVED The medical problems whicn had to be faced by the British Pacific Fleet while it was operating 4000 miles away from its main base at Sydnel were discussed by Surgeon Captain Lambert Rogers, R.N.V.R., consulting surgeon to the British Pacific Fleet, in a broadcast address last night. After giving details of the supply organisation that was established to enable the fleet to remain at sea for long periods, Surgeon Captain Rogers said that entirely new problems were presented in dealing with the sick and “wounded. At first sight it was thought that and mobile hospitals established in the islands might be the answer, but it soon became apparent that forward hospitals could not be established "sufficiently quickly and satisfactorily on the islands, and that the problem would best be met by using hospital ships. Comfortable Conditions “In the>naval war in the Pacific the hospital ship may truly be said to have come into its own, not only because of its mobility, but because it comprises a completely-equipped floating hospital,” Surgeon Captain Rogers said. “ Its use as a floating hospital at a forward anchorage was more important than its use as a ship for carrying patients. -'“Anchored two or three miles oft shore, a hospital ship with its snowwhite decks, airy wards, and air-con-ditioned operating theatres, made an excellent surgical hospital. I well remember how on one occasion after a morning’s operating on board a hospital ship anchored off Leyte, in the Philippines, I went ashore to visit some surgical friends at an American army hospital on one of the islands, and thought how the heat and the dust ashore and the flies and mosquitoes which necessitated the use of fly wire and nets to add to the discomfort of patients and staff, made a shore hospital in the tropics so much less comfortable than our floating one anchored away from these disadvantages. “ One of the hospital ships with us up north was the Maunganui, which, although an army hospital ship, was at the time lent to the British Pacific Fleet, and I should like to take this opDorturiity to pay tribute to the excellent work oi Colonel Bennett ana hi s staff. We shall long remember them help and kindness and what good shipmates they were. Indebted to New Zealand

“ \Ye in the British Pacific Fleet are indebted both to New Zealand and Australia for the provision or replacement of many of our medical stores and for such necessities as blood and blood plasma. Supplied from voluntary donors blood plasma was used m large quantities and enabled many lives to be saved. As surgical consultant to the British Pacific Fleet, it was my duty to see that as far as possible our wounded received skilled attention at the earliest' possible moment, because success in war surgery to-day so largely depends on this. The facilities provided in the manner which I have described were found in practice to work well. ~ _ .„ “ My appointment to the Pacific was in some ways a unique one because the Royal Navy had never previously had a consultant stationed abroad, and the area in which I was to be available was a very large one, as it comprised practically the whole Pacific and Australia, while on two occasions my duties brought me over to New Zealand” he added. “1 have travelled but rarely in ships, but covered many thousands of miles by air, visiting places as far apart as Perth and Christchurch. Singapore and Sydney, Darwin and Melbourne, Adelaide, the Philippines, and the Pacific Island bases, so that I am indebted to the air force for assistance on many occasions. “ Fortunately our battle casualties were relatively few, and it was comparatively easy to cope With them so that they received the best of professional care and attention as early as possible, but had they been very numerous, as might well have been the case, the mechanism was in operation to deal with them, and I have no doubt it would have worked efficiently and well.” Surgeon Captain Rogers concluded.