182
DONALD C. BOWIE
March 1944 was the last month in which I kept records on the above lines. Earlier a system of bi-monthly intakes of Red Cross supplies, some acquired locally, was started, and these intakes added hugely to the value of the gift parcel system. The new system is described more fully in the section on Red Cross Supplies. Purchases to improve general messing using voluntary contributions of money continued unchanged. I repeat that much of the specially purchased foods and gifts of food from visitors were used to provide for extra and special diets for very sick patients. The figures I give are concerned only with general diets and fail completely to indicate the value to sick patients of these gifts and purchases.
(c) Red Cross Food Supplies
The value of the contributions made by the Red Cross Society to the well-being of patients and staff can hardly be overestimated. Morale had already been seriously shaken by the removal of our nurses in August 1942 and by the outbreaks of dysentery and diphtheria by the time the deficiency diseases appeared. The burning feet which reduced men to tears, the visual defects which prevented reading, the staggering gait due to defective balancing power of those who were able to get up at all, the emaciation of so many and the weight loss of all were known by all to be due to under-nutrition. There seemed no escape from a steady deterioration and this, together with shortages of fuel and other supplies produced an atmosphere in the hospital not far short of gloom. A little improvement was just beginning to show as the high incidence of the infections declined when on St. Andrew's day 1942 Red Cross food parcels were delivered in the proportion of one per head of the 392 inhabitants of the hospital. As was usual with most Japanese actions we had no warning beforehand. Each parcel contained 12 tins of assorted foods, tea, sugar, soap, and a bar of chocolate. All but 10 were, except for minor deficiencies, intact. Of the 10, eight showed more than minor deficiencies and these along with one intact parcel were issued to the nine members of the medical officers' mess who agreed to accept them. The defective parcels were shown to the Japanese interpreter without much hope, and true enough they were not made up. A month earlier a newly arrived interpreter had told me that Red Cross parcels were being delivered to Sham Shui Po P.O.W. camp but our expectations subsided as time went on and none arrived in the hospital. When our parcels did arrive
182
DONALD C. BOWIE
March 1944 was the last month in which I kept records on the above lines. Earlier a system of bi-monthly intakes of Red Cross supplies, some acquired locally, was started, and these intakes added hugely to the value of the gift parcel system. The new system is described more fully in the section on Red Cross Supplies. Pur- chases to improve general messing using voluntary contributions of money continued unchanged. I repeat that much of the specially purchased foods and gifts of food from visitors were used to provide for extra and special diets for very sick patients. The figures I give are concerned only with general diets and fail completely to indicate the value to sick patients of these gifts and purchases.
(c) Red Cross Food Supplies
The value of the contributions made by the Red Cross Society to the well-being of patients and staff can hardly be overestimated. Morale had already been seriously shaken by the removal of our nurses in August 1942 and by the outbreaks of dysentery and diph- theria by the time the deficiency diseases appeared. The burning feet which reduced men to tears, the visual defects which prevented reading, the staggering gait due to defective balancing power of those who were able to get up at all, the emaciation of so many and the weight loss of all were known by all to be due to under- nutrition. There seemed no escape from a steady deterioration and this, together with shortages of fuel and other supplies produced an atmosphere in the hospital not far short of gloom. A little im- provement was just beginning to show as the high incidence of the infections decined when on St. Andrew's day 1942 Red Cross food parcels were delivered in the proportion of one per head of the 392 inhabitants of the hospital. As was usual with most Japanese actions we had no warning beforehand. Each parcel contained 12 tins of assorted foods, tea, sugar, soap and a bar of chocolate. All but 10 were, except for minor deficiencies, intact. Of the 10, eight showed more than minor deficiencies and these along with one intact parcel were issued to the nine members of the medical officers' mess who agreed to accept them. The defective parcels were shown to the Japanese interpreter without much hope, and true enough they were not made up. A month earlier a newly arrived interpreter had told me that Red Cross parcels were being delivered to Sham Shui Po P.O.W. camp but our expectations subsided as time went on and none arrived in the hospital. When our parcels did arrive
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