The Arrival of the Sick and Wounded from the Front

The end of April was reached. The bulk of the forces had disappeared from Egypt, and their position was only known by rumour; the hospital was gradually emptied of patients; Mena Camp had been abandoned, and Maadi Camp was reduced to small proportions. The weather was beautiful, and any one might have been easily lulled into a sense of false security. On April 28, however, a train-load of sick arrived. Its contents were not known until it arrived at the Heliopolis siding. The patients had come from Mudros, and numbered over 200 sick, including some 60 venereal cases, a matter of some interest in the light of subsequent events.

On the following day, however, without notice or warning of any description, wounded began to arrive in appalling numbers. On April 30 and May 1 and 2 no less than 1,352 cases were admitted at Heliopolis.

The expansion already indicated at Luna Park was at once effected, and some relief was obtained by transferring the lighter cases to Mena House—some seventeen miles distant. The last train-load of wounded arrived in the early morning of May 2, and deserves special notice, as many of the men were very seriously injured. There were about 100 cases; the train arrived at midnight, and was emptied by 4 o'clock in the morning. The bearing of the men badly injured was past praise. At 4 a.m. the main operating-room of the hospital bore eloquent testimony to the gravity of the work, which had been going on for many hours, and the exhausted condition of the staff further demonstrated what had occurred. The staff at the hospital was quite inadequate to cope with the rush, notwithstanding the willingness of every one concerned, and accordingly volunteers from some of the Field Ambulances, and from the Light Horse units which were still in Egypt, were called for and readily obtained. With the aid of the volunteers and by dint of universal devotion to duty the work was done, and on the whole done well.

The following table shows the staff available from April 2 to August 18, and the work required of it:

Staff, etc., of No. 1 General Hospital at Heliopolis, Including Auxiliary Hospitals

Date.		Officers.	Nurses.	Rank and	Patients.	No. of
				File.		Beds.
April	25	28	92	163	495	893
	26	29	92	187	504	893
	27	28	92	184	479	897
	28	28	92	184	479	895
	29	28	92	197	631	925
	30	28	92	204	1,082	1,100 [1]

Date.		Officers.	Nurses.	Rank and	Patients.	No. of
				File.		Beds.
May	1	26	92	216	1,324	1,100
	2	26	92	236	1,465
	3	32	92	236	1,425
	4	28	109	221	1,427
	5	30	107	221	1,389
	6	30	107	209	1,362	2,108
	7	30	107	198	1,353
	8	30	107	198	1,454
	9	29	107	201	1,432
	10	26	107	201	1,485
	11	26	107	209	1,618	2,493
	12	26	107	209	1,846	2,487
	13	28	107	249	2,293	2,592
	14	29	107	244	2,302	2,726
	15	29	107	244	2,218	2,705
	16	32	107	261	2,208	2,679
	17	30	107	259	2,165	2,646
	18	30	107	252	2,187	2,940
	19	30	107	274	1,911
	20	30	107	302	1,904
	21	29	107	290	1,889
	22	29	107	287	1,856
	23	29	107	287	1,812
	24	29	104	287	1,811
	25	32	104	299	1,777
	26	32	104	295	1,768
	27	32	104	295	1,805
	28	32	104	317	1,781
	29	35	143	319	1,931
	30	35	143	322	1,918
	31	35	143	322	1,820

Date.		Officers.	Nurses.	Rank and	Patients.	No. of
				File.		Beds.
June	1	35	143	322	1,876
	2	35	143	315	1,873
	3	36	143	314	1,869
	4	36	147	277	1,866
	5	35	147	277	1,872
	6	36	147	264	1,786
	7	36	147	264	1,627
	8	34	147	253	1,709
	9	34	147	253	2,474	2,805
	10	32	133	247	2,211
	11	32	133	247	2,605
	12	32	133	262	2,375
	13	32	133	263	2,384
	14	34	133	264	2,324
	15	34	133	264	2,324
	16	54 [2]	171 [3]	463 [4]	2,269
	17	54	171	463	2,328
	18	55	165	462	2,259
	19	55	165	449	2,266
	20	55	165	443	2,339
	21	55	165	439	2,335
	22	55	165	439	2,357
	23	55	165	439	2,159
	24	55	165	438	2,157
	25	55	163	438	2,003
	26	55	163	429	1,926
	27	55	163	429	1,887
	28	55	163	429	2,121
	29	54	163	429	2,150
	30	55	163	429	2,135

Date.		Officers.	Nurses.	Rank and	Patients.	No. of
				File.		Beds.
July	1	55	163	430	2,332	2,956
	2	58	163	430	2,305
	3	58	163	405	2,187
	4	55	163	403	2,131
	5	55	163	395	2,131
	6	55	157	325	2,032
	7	55	157	395	1,982
	8	56	157	395	2,107
	9	55	157	397	2,120
	10	56	157	393	2,145
	11	56	157	399	2,115
	12	52	157	399	2,072
	13	52	155	394	2,130
	14	52	155	394	2,087
	15	52	155	391	2,101
	16	52	153	407	1,930
	17	51	155	410	1,885
	18	51	153	561	1,785
	19	73	234	616	1,713
	20	73	234	616	1,782
	21	79	231	565	1,716
	22	79	231	374	1,487
	23	78	223	570	1,450
	24	75	226	568	1,476
	25	75	226	548	1,438
	26	75	226	548	1,447
	27	74	226	555	1,434
	28	74	226	555	1,692
	29	75	226	544	1,695
	30	75	224	449	1,452
	31	70	224	457	1,362

Date.		Officers.	Nurses.	Rank and	Patients.	No. of
				File.		Beds.
Aug.	1	70	224	457	1,588	2,876
	2	70	224	457	1,610
	3	71	224	447	1,652
	4	71	224	447	1,631
	5	61	224	447	1,759
	6	60	224	456	1,731
	7	60	224	456	1,793
	8	60	224	424	1,927
	9	59	224	432	1,902
	10	58	224	432	339 [5]
	11				357
	12				542
	13	42	216	416	454
	14	47	216	462	504
	15	45	216	462	535
	16	45	216	480	587
	17	47	216	484	485
	18	48	216	460	470