Evening star., 1898-10-21
SURGEONS IN THE SOUDAy.
Arrangements for the Treatment Of
Wounded British Soldiers.
From the London News

From the London News.
The arrangements made by the army
medical department for the final advance
on khart oum are most elaborate and COM
plete They have been made by Surgeon
Colonel Mcnamara, who has been and re-
mains p. NJ. O. of the British force, while
Surgeon General Taylor-a man of great
and varied experence-has come specially
out to exercise supreme control in both
British and Egyptian divisions. The ar
rangements made for the treatment of the
wounded are follows: A medical officer
is attached to each battalion. and one also
to the cavalry and to each battery of ar
tillery: then from each battalion, etc, are
drawn thirty-two trained men, who retain
their arms and can be otherwise used in
emergency, whose business is to pick up
and give first aid to the wounded and con-
vey them to the field hospitals, which will
be at convenient distance behind the brf-
gades in some sheltered position. Behind
each brigade are to be five field hospitals.
each with one medical officer and accom-
mediation for twenty-five men. These five
field hospitals act as one, but are made
sectional in order that the sections may
be detached to follow any battalion that
may be acting Independently of the bri
gade. In all these there is accommodation
for 125 wounded in the field hospitals of
each brigade. There is also a senior medi-
Colonel SIoggett with General Wauchopes
and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes with Gem
eral Lyttleton's command
From the field hospitals the wounded
are to be conveyed as soon as possible af-
ter treatment. to barges moored off the
river bank, where there will be accommo-
dation for 200 men. These barges are at
present engaged in conveying troops to
Wad Habashiyeh our place Of rendezvous,
but so soon as this work is completed they
will be cleansed and dfsinfected and fitted
as hospitals. Other bargeS will be used
for operating purposes.
Two Roentgen ray apparatuses (Which
are now here) will be on these barges. OF
course, apart from the barges there will
be other hospital accommodations on the
river bank, and the barges will II neces-
sary, ply to and from the Atbara camp.
Between Khartoum and this place there
will be eight lines of communication hos
pitals with fifty beds, having, of course,
medical officer attached to each. Surgeon
Major Hunter, who until last year was at
tached to the Egyptian army has charge
of these eight hospitals.
Here, at the Atbara, ample and special
accommodation has been provided. A hos
pital has been built of mud bricks, with
walls some three feet thick and lofty
roof. the wards being ceiled with mating
and thickly thatched with Dhurra straw
1t is probably as cool a place as there is in
the Soudan. Here is accommodation for
100 men. but SO generous scale that If
necessary, another fifty or more could be
added without any cramping to the in
mates. Men reaching this hospital get
proper hospital clothing and bedding and
have sheets to their beds Six medical
officers in charge There is another
base hospital lower down the river at Aba
deah- Fifteen miles north of Berber Is an
other big mud brick hospital with accom-
mediation for 300 men, who will be looked
after by eight medical officers Roth hence
ard from the Atbera camp sick conyoys
will be made up for the desert railway
Journey to Halfa, and the trains will be
specially fitted for conveying sick ana
wounded At Halfa and at Assuan where
there are breaks between rail and river
there will be severally a ffty-bed and a
twenty-five bed hospital for the accommo-
dation of men who need rest after the TOUR
ney. At Abadeah hospital by the way is
another Roentgen ray apparatus. On each
gunboat is medical officer, the p. M O,
of the gunboats being Surgeon Major
Smythe.
Every sort of drug. appliance and instru-
nlent that may be required has been plen-
TRULY supplied, and the organization gen
orally is SO thorough that there is every
reason to hope that the complaints so often
MADE tand made as much by the surgeons
themselves as by any one else) of the in
adequacy of the arrangements for the med
lcal treatment of our troops on active ser
vice Will not find any voice as regards the
expedition to Khartoum
nave omitted to mention that the
Stretchers for carrying the wounded and
SICK from place to place have been fitted
with hoods, and Tommy, who generally
contrNes 10 get fun of his own peculiar
fancy out of most events has succeeded in
evolving mild but popular jokelet out of
the labor the alteration has cost him. For
some reason or other it has been the fash
ION at DarmaH to cast a sort of comic
Scorn on the guards. there heinz q sort of
prevalent theory in camp that these gal
Iaht soiaiers were to be sent to Khartoum
wrapped, so to speak in cotton wool
M al the guards therefore was not to be
Soldier at work on the stretcher hoods
promptly answered the question as to what
they We're for with. What for? why for
you ana me to carry the blooming guards
TO khartoum. Of course" N3