Report on seventh International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy and meetings of the Permanent Committee, Madrid, Spain, May 29-June 3, 1933 / by William Seaman Bainbridge.

  • Bainbridge, William Seaman, 1870-1947.
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on seventh International Congress of Military Medicine and Pharmacy and meetings of the Permanent Committee, Madrid, Spain, May 29-June 3, 1933 / by William Seaman Bainbridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    surgical hospital thus found it fairly easy to complete a pre-existing installation by bringing to the same its specialized means. In conse¬ quence of its delayed intervention, it could accomplish its work more rapidly, and could detach itself without too much difficulty from the nucleus, when its employment at this point was no longer required; while proving indispensable at another part of the front. The study of the functioning of the surgical hospital of the Army Corps, a formation reserved for urgent casualties, cannot in the majority of the cases be dissociated from that of the “grouping” or “centre.” This study must comprise the combined agency of the medi¬ cal units under the authority of a single Chief; the designation of these units; the choice of their locality; measures relative to the installation; the functioning of the center. In the Belgian Army, the various units which organically compose the Army Corps Medical Service form, through their administrative union, a body designated as the “Medical Corps of the Army Corps.” This body is placed under the authority of a superior medical officer, Commandant of the Medical Corps, who is provided with a certain number of adjuncts, surgical, administrative, secretarial. The choice of location of the medical units naturally devolves upon the Commandant of the Army Corps, on the basis of proposals made by his Medical Service Commandant. It goes without saying that these proposals must very strictly foresee a good union of the center with the Medico-Military Service as a whole. For the purpose of coordina¬ tion, the Army itself may take charge of the choice of placement of the center; this will be notably the case when installations are concerned, which have already been utilized by medical formations, more par¬ ticularly when these have been specially equipped for the Medico- Military Service. Suitable localities are hospital and industrial estab¬ lishments, schools, convents, large castles and large farm houses. Many of these structures must be supplemented by the utilization of neigh¬ boring buildings, or by the erection of tents. They often involve the disadvantage of not complying with the condition of isolation, as re¬ quired for the security of the center. Castles, when of sufficient size, often combine the desired isolation with connecting highroads, im¬ portant annexes, good internal arrangements (heating, water, kitchen) ; the possibility of free access for vehicles; and the presence of lawns adapted to the erection of tents. In the absence of buildings, the center must be established entirely under tents or in temporary barracks, which requires a solid, even territory connected with cross roads and highways, and near a water supply. Experience has shown that the initial situation of the center