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F 9901/120/10.
FOREIGN OFFICE, S.W.1.
20th October, 1938.
Sir,
I am directed by Viscount Halifax to enclose a copy of
a letter which His Majesty's Ambassador in China has received
from Dr. Robert S.K. Lim, the Chinese director of the Medical
Relief Commission of the National Red Cross Society of China,
appealing for assistance from Great Britain.
2. In forwarding this letter, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr
states that from his own observation in Hankow and elsewhere
he can bear out Dr. Lim's criticism of the Chinese Army Medical
Service, and that there is no doubt that the facilities for
caring for the Chinese wounded are very primitive. Auxiliary
organisations, and notably the Red Cross, are doing admirable
work with very limited resources, but at present they only
touch the fringe of the problem and with foreign help, financial
and professional, could do far more.
3. Sir Archibald Clark Kerr has also drawn attention to
the fact that the Red Cross Medical Relief Commission are
apparently greatly hampered by a shortage of tents for dressing
stations and for accommodating wounded soldiers. The Military
Attaché to His Majesty's Embassy is convinced that the need
is urgent and recommends that an effort should be made to
supply, for a start, 50 "tents, European pattern, 750 pounds"
for dressing stations, and 500 "tents, 180 pounds, single fly"
Dr. H. Gordon Thompson,
Secretary to the British Fund for the Relief of
Distress in China,
121, Westbourne Terrace,
V.2.
for
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