THE PATIENT ARRIVED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 4, 29 July 1946, Page 7

THE PATIENT ARRIVED

AN OPERATION IN A GREEK HOSPITAL CORSO NURSE’S DESCRIPTION New Zealand doctors would be horror-stricken at conditions in the average Greek hospital, judging by a description of one in a letter recently received at CORSO Headquarters from Miss Elsie Steven, of Wellington, who is working with a CORSO team in Western Macedonia. “I have just come home from the local hospital at Kozani where I give regular lectures to the nui ses. I wish you could see it,” writes Miss Steven. “At first I was really appalled at the spectacle, but now have become more or less accustomed to it. It is the way with lots of aspects of this job. One gets used to not bathing in a bath, to filth and poverty and soulless misery. The hospital is shockingly overcrowded and under-staffed. The Director is permanently on the job. There aie three doctors resident there, and as far as I can make out, one visiting surgeon. The house surgeons are forever on duty. There are nine nurses for the 86-90 patients, and believe it or not, four of them are on permanent night duty because they can neither read nor write.” “One afternoon I found Dr. M , the surgeon, about to operate, so asked if I might watch him, after which I came straight home and extracted a promise from Dr. Chapman that should I take ill suddenly with appendicitis she will carve it out on the kitchen table with a knife, fork and spoon. The theatre is a small room on the Ist floor just off the hall, in which sit the patients’ relatives, who take a look in to watch progress every time the door is opened during the operation. This happens quite frequently because the hospital director in top coats and smoking a cigarette, plus the manager, plus an extra nurse oi doctor, plus the charlady and numerous other people dash in and out at will.”

“The' surgeon comes in smoking,stubs his cigarette on the windowsill, hangs his coat in the corner, rolls up his sleeves and scrubs his hands in a basin. During this performance, the patient is can ied in and the hospital chemist administers the anaesthetic. An assistant arrives hurriedly (he is late), and scrubs his hands with one eye on me and the other on the surgeon, wondering I guess just who to pander to—me with my eye on my watch or Dr. M tapping his foot and fuming with impatience. Eventually they are away to a flying, start, and by jove he took that appendix out very neatly in 10 minutes. Later I enquired furtively whether the patient had survived without contracting septacaemia. He had.” To maintain the teams of doctors, nurses and welfare experts in Greece and to send further teams to China, CORSO is appealing for funds. Donations should be sent to CORSO, Box 11, Govt. Buildings Post Office, Wellington.