MEDICAL SERVICE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22554, 12 April 1943, Page 2

MEDICAL SERVICE

Fine Work In New Guinea

SYDNEY, April 9.

“Probably never in the whole history of the war have medical men worked under such conditions. Seldom has it been demonstrated so forcibly that sheer skill and improvisation rather than elaborate equipment are the main factoris in saving life.”

This comment is made by the “Sydney Morning Herald” New Guinea war correspondent, discussing the splendid records of the Allied army medical service in the New Guinea campaigns. “Throughout the fighting the surgeons in the forward areas have worked in canvas theatres on floors inches deep in mud, and with incessant rain dripping through the leaking tents,” says the correspondent. “The lighting had been from jeep headlamps, around which myriads of insects have flown, but in spite of the primitive conditions, it is claimed that no cases were lost which would have survived in the aseptic atmosphere of the modern hospital. With only native bearers to transport the wounded men, it was found necessary to establish a field hospital right behind the shifting battle line. Native grass huts which served as hospitals were cool in the daytime, but at night usually became infested with rats. In the high country the nights are bitterly cold. With the heat of the day, followed by cold nights, and with clothing always wet and usually unwashed, many soldiers had to be treated for skin complaints. “In the heavy fighting around Buna, the surgeons did their work at field dressing stations within sound of the actual battle. At one such small station 338 wounded men were operated on. Every case was serious and urgent.” Day and Night Shifts “Medical personnel were divided into day and night shifts, but usually the pressure of work was such that the shifts overlapped heavily. Many of the staff suffered from malaria. Perhaps the worst night recorded at this sttaion was on January 21. when 10 inches of rain fell. Thirty battle casualties were admitted after dark. During the storm a large.surgical tent containing 20 seriously wounded men collapsed into mud that was inches deep. Within two hours the tent had been re-erected and the wounded made comfortable with dry bedding and clothing. By morning, in spite of the storm and the additional interruption of two air raids, all 30 battle casualties had been operated on. Blood transfusions were given at such stations to patients too weak for injections of blood serum. The donors were likely to be suffering from malaria, but as this disease takes 10 days to develop, and the patients would certainly have died without transfusions, the risk of infection had to be accepted. The percentage of men who died from wounds was extraordinarily low.

“While much of the medical equipment was of the ‘makeshift’ variety, supplies of essential stores were always adequate and no difficulties were permitted to interfere with the passage of these supplies. Medical men who to-day are analysing the lessons learned in the campaigns declare that a regular supply of stores was vital to the success attained.