There were thirty wards (made to hold forty soldiers), often
holding up to one hundred patients. There were upper and lower decks made of bamboo slats. Each patient was allotted a two-by-six foot space. Seriously ill were kept on the lower decks.
By Dec. 1st, I had been appointed chief of the medical service; I tried to see every patient each day. Since medicines were very scarce, there was actually very little I could do, except give some hope of a better tomorrow.
Dire Economy: In the early days of the hospital, the Japanese issued a few cartons of condensed milk that they had captured on Bataan for the benefit of the seriously ill. Unfortunately, most of the recipients of the extra milk proceeded to die in spite of the extra nourishment taking the milk with them. We quickly learned a harsh but valuable lesson: "Do not give extra nourishment to dying patients!"
From then on, the extra food went only to patients who possessed the possibility of recovering plus the will to live.
Malaria: Fully 50% of the 2,400 patients had malaria. For many months all we could do was to give one quinine tablet after each malaria chill, hoping to make them more comfortable. But after the Japs conquered the Dutch East Indies, we received 30,000 three grain tablets of quinine. This allowed us to control most cases of malaria and to cure some.
Occasionally we saw a few cases of cerebral malaria; most of these died in spite of quinine therapy.
Multiple Diseases: Most patients had more than one disease, usually multiple vitamin diseases. Many had lost from one third to one-half of their body weight. Most everyone had either wet or dry beriberi, or a few both.
Beriberi: Wet beriberi cases were bloated with edema usually beginning in the feet and gradually progressing upward to the head. A patient with edema of the feet and legs, after lying in bed all night, frequently found that the edema had spread to his chest and face in the morning.
After being up for several hours, the edema slowly returned to his legs and feet. When the edema became extensive, the patient became nearly helpless unable to get about.