Volume 1

The Imperial Yeomanry Hospitals in South Africa, 1900-1902 / edited by the Countess Howe.

  • Imperial Yeomanry Hospitals Committee.
Date:
1902
    % * s , HOSPPj'AlL EASTWOOD \TORHJM Convaj^scentOfficers' Bench For Basins ( ^ ^ Q G ® Shewing Russian Bath Etc. cOe|jia?G£/wrs Quarters Section j|^_ *' =j|g | “I? Hi General Section. -Soroigm^Segt+&n . Section of Disinfecting Boiler. Section of a Filter Pit. Grovei Sond Grovel ■Scones iK -Lu ,\\S _of a«<6< Section MEDICAU c\0« 0 C l B 0 Section Enteric xeumann & c" Eugin Krrinft Di-purr im-i,, JOHANNESBURG. From Pretoria ARCADIA ROAD To Erstefabnhen HOCKEY GROUND GOLF COURSE □ j®-- |::0: ; i:»: j==®=- w *
    REPORT OF SURGEON-MAJOR C. R. KILKELLY, C.M.G. (Colonel, South Africa), 1st Batt. Grenadier Guards, Principal Medical Officer, Transvaal Yeomanry Hospitals. Pretoria Hospital. The first stage of the war was over in June, 1900, yet owing to the amount of sickness, the result of the enteric epidemic at Bloemfontein, an addi- tional hospital for the Imperial Yeomanry was rapidly organized by the Com- mittee in Eondon and sent out to South Africa in July, 1900. Its equipment reached Cape Town towards the end of .Inly, and, together witli the equipment purchased in South Africa, was sent off as expeditiously as possible to Pretoria. The staff went on at once to Deelfontein, and for a short time did duty in the Deelfontein Hospital, enabling the doctors and sisters of that hospital to obtain a short and well-earned respite from their labours. The staff later on proceeded to Pretoria, as transport became available. At first Mr. Barnato’s house in Barnato Park, Johannesburg, was to have been the site of the hospital, but owing to various circumstances the hospital was sent on to Pretoria. Early in August Mr. J. G. Hamilton went there to obtain a suitable site for it, and after consultation with the authorities decided to take over Mr. Beckett’s house and grounds in Arcadia. Possession of Mr. Beckett’s house was obtained on the 7th of August, and the stores, tents, and staff arrived shortly afterwards. The Buffs, who were encamped not far off, very kindly lent us large parties of men, 100 at a time, to help us. They were of great use, and enabled us to clear the ground, burn the grass off’ the veldt, and pitch our marquees in a few days, a far shorter time than we could have otherwise done. All our staff having arrived and all our arrangements for 200 beds having been completed on August 18th, the Countess Roberts, accompanied by Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, in the presence of a large assembly of officers and civilians, declared the hospital open on that date. Mr. Beckett’s premises consisted of a large house with stables situated in about 150 acres of ground on the southern slope of a kopje, a part of the Magalies-
    berg Range. The eastern half of the grounds was planted with young trees, whilst the western half was open veldt. The whole area was enclosed with barbed wire. It lay about two miles east of Pretoria, at an elevation some three or four hundred feet higher than Pretoria. It was an ideal spot for a hospital, as it was high open ground, easily drained, close to a water supply, a main road and railway. In the valley below the railway ran east to 1 lelagoa Ray, and imme- diately across the railway line Nos. 2 and 7 General Hospitals were situated. On the railway near No. 7 General Hospital, about a mile distant from us, a special siding was made available for the entraining and detraining of invalids. On the opposite side of the valley the hills rose to a considerable height. ENTRANCE I. Y. H., PRETORIA. The hospital consisted of Mr. Beckett’s private house, a number of tents and a few iron buildings. The total accommodation was sufficient for 560 fully equipped beds. About eighty beds were set apart for officers. In the house there were seven rooms for sick officers, containing in the aggregate twenty-nine beds, and one room for men containing eighteen beds. The latter was kept for medical and surgical cases requiring special treatment. One of the rooms in the upper storey was fitted up as an operating-room, and the adjacent room was used for surgical instruments and appliances. A room on the lower floor was used as a bacteriological and chemical laboratory. The hall was used as a reading-room. The conservatory served as a mess-room for the medical staff and any sick officers who were able to attend, an arrangement which was very much appreciated by
    them, but owing to which we often had to cater for as many as sixty dining members. The rest of the house was used for kitchens, store-rooms, bath-rooms, com- mandant’s and matron’s offices, and medical officers’ room. The verandahs of the house were used by patients who were able to sit up. A large outlying building at the back of the house was converted into a linen and hardware stores, a dairy, and an X-ray room. Behind this building the electric plant was installed, which supplied electric light to the whole camp ; each tent had a light, and about twenty lights were distributed throughout the grounds. The X-rays were worked also by means of resistance coils and an electrolytic interruptor from this source. I. Y. H., PRETORIA : DAIRY. The tents were pitched in the grounds. The men’s tents were grouped intoMedical, Enteric, Surgical, and General Sections. In the Medical Section there were thirty tents, in the General Section seventeen, each tent containing six beds. Three tents for cases of enteric fever and three for cases of dysentery, each tent containing four beds, were set apart for officers. Four ‘I. E. P.’ (Indian European Private) tents, each containing four beds, and two bell tents with one bed in each, were reserved for officers who were sufficiently recovered to join the officers’ mess, and who did not require special nursing; this arrangement was subject to slight changes as certain sections had to he increased or diminished to meet the requirements of such diseases as were most prevalent. The accompanying plan shows the general arrangement of the camp. It will be observed that the mortuary, latrines, refuse pits, receptacles for soiled linen, enteric boilers, &c., were
    in a group to the south-west of the camp. Between the Medical, General, and Surgical Sections, and convenient to each were iron buildings, used for cook-houses, lavatory, and bath-houses (including a Russian steam bath), dispensary, quarter- master’s office, provision stores, ordnance clothing store, pack store for patients’ kits, &c. To the north of the General and Surgical Sections were placed a group of tents and three iron buildings, which afforded accommodation to N.C.O.’s and men of the hospital staff, a sergeants’ mess, kitchen and lavatory. Still further I. Y. II., PRETORIA : TRANSPORT LINES AND SISTERS’ QUARTERS (REITZ’S HOUSE). north were shelters for the Kaffirs employed in the hospital, together with one tent containing six beds and used as a Kaffir hospital. With the exception of the enteric fever section which consisted of hospital marquees, all the tents were of the ‘ I. E. P.’ pattern, and were arranged in groups of threes to form 4 wards ’ of eighteen beds. The porches in front of the doorways were covered in and formed covered ways from one tent to another without interfering witli the air spaces between the adjacent tents. The enteric fever section was situated below and south of Medical Section, from which it was divided by a broad avenue. It consisted of a series of separate hospital marquees. Each of these sections had one or more bell tents set apart for the