CO129-571-18 League of Nations- medical aid for China and reduced cable rates 8-2-1938 - 30-1-1939 — Page 42

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Many factors have made it impossible for the National

Red Cross to follow any modern system of medical military

organisation so that the difficulty of organising the Red Cross

services in the throes of war and under the special conditions

of China has been particularly great. A few of the more important

factors may be mentioned: poor communications and lack of

transport vehicles; the great length and open neture of the

fighting fronts; the constant raiding of the lines of communications

by enemy air-craft; the rapidity with which nowerful mechanized

columns can move especially against non-mechanized troops; the

maltreatment of wounded soldiers and hospital staf” by the enemy;

and the lack of adequate housing or tents for hospitals within a

reasonable distance from the fighting line. It has therefore been

the policy of the Army Medical Administration to evacuate all

wounded far to the rear where reasonable tranquility may be

obtained for hospitalization and care of the wounded. The service

of the Red Cross is therefore governed by these conditions.

To assist the Army Medical Service in the region between

the front and the base hospital area, Ambulance Unite composed

chiefly of dressers in charge of a doctor are organized to staff

the receiving stations and the hospital trains and boats so as to

take continuous care of the wounded during the journey, often long,

from the front to the rear.

The rôle of the Red Cross units in the rear of the line of

communications is to supplement the medical staff of the army field

and base hospitals. This is done by attaching Curative (Operating)

and Nursing nits to certain hospitals for the purpose of using

these particular hospitels as surgical clearing houses for the

treatment of the severely wounded in the various hospitals nearby.

It must be remembered that the Red Cross doctors and nurses come

from among the best hospitals in the country, and through their

attachment to the army hospitals bring the best available technical

help