Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-07
FOR NEW HOSPITAL
NECESSITY POINTED OUT BY SUR
GEoN GENERAL o'REILLY.
Plans for War College, Washington
Barracks, Provide FIR OCCUPATION Of
Present Hospital Site.

Gen. O'Reilly, surgeon general OF the
army. has made report to the Secretary
Of War in regard to the general hospital at
Washington barracks and the vicinity for
new hospital building in this vicinity. in
which he says:
THE work of construction at Washington
barracks. now well under way will render
the removal of the general hospital impera-
tive in the near future. Plans for the war
college and engineer school contemplate q
new building on the present site Of the hos
pital. 1t has been proposed to move tho
present building and use 1t az post hospi-
tai during the construction work, and for
this purpose 1t Is neither too large nor too
good.
1T is Inadequate in size for a general
hospital, however, and. being largely built
of timber, 1t has shrunk and settled until 1t
Is no longer possible to maintain 1t in the
perfect sanitary condition absolutely neces-
sary where aseptic operations are to be per-
formed.
THE building is about ten years old ana
cost less than $4,000. 1t Is always crowded,
so that nurses must be lodged outside, and
there are no private rooms for officers or
special cases. The location is not suitable.
even If 1t were possible to retain the site, as
the ground is low and the heat excessive in
summer.
THE company Of instruction Of the hospi-
tai corps is quartered in temporary wooden
pavilions, in bad repair which were built
during the war with Spain and are now
worthless for any purpose.
Scope Of Institution.
II repeat most earnestly my previous REQ
ommendation that a general hospital OF
sufficient size and perfect in every respect
be built In the District Of Columbia for the
following purposes.
First. Treatment of cases needing the
services of specialists. surgical or other OBJ
n two 80 Ia
FACILITATED for service prior to their appear
ance before retiring or examining boards
Second. Training enlisted men Of the
hospital corps in nursing and military du-
ties.
Third. Instruction at the Army Medical
School in military surgery, hospital admin
istration. hospital corps drill and establish
ment of field hospitals
Fourth. To serve as a nucleus around
which. In time of war, temporary wards
may be erected without delay to any extent
and at minimum expense.
sketch plans are now in course of prep
aratlon Tor such a hospital, the establish
ment OF which means so much to the medf-
cal department and the army at large that
IT IS hard to express the disappointment felt
at the failure to obtain the requisite appro-
pr1ations from the last Congress-
conservative estimate of the money
saved the United States by the successful
surgical operations at this hospital since its
establishment, September g. 1898, to Febru-
airy II 1903. has been made, and it is shown
That VI officers completely incapacitated
nave been operated upon and restored to
duty, whose retired pay would have been
very nearly 100000 year, and that 21e
enlisted men have been returned to duty
after operations for disability, whose pen
slons, had they been discharged, would
have amounted to nearly $4,000 a year,
me institution has. therefore. already paid
1or ltseif many times over from its surgical
work alone while its value as an essential
part of the instruction Of young medical
officers and enlisted men Of the hospital
corps cannot be estimated"