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11
BELGIAN REFUGEES.
In May, the late Strand Workhouse was finally cleared of refugees and
taken over by the Military Authorities with a view of the buildings being
utilised in connection with the military hospital at the Edmonton Infirmary,
which is immediately south of it. The small number of refugees still in
hand were transferred to the camp at Earls Court.
I am therefore now able, for the first time since 1914, to present the vital
statistics of this report without reference to our Belgian visitors.
As regards infectious disease, I received no notifications from January
to May, except two of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Four births were notified to me as having occurred amongst the Belgian
refugees, two at the Whitechapel and two at the City of London Infirmary.
EDMONTON MILITARY HOSPITAL.
Lieut.-Col. Spencer Mort's responsibilities continue, if they do not
increase. At the end of 1918 there were 1,405 beds for sailors and soldiers
in this institution, and 1,502 in the 14 auxiliary hospitals in outside areas,
a total of 2,907 beds under the administration of Lieut.-Col. Mort. The
total number of inmates and resident staff in this central hospital was 1,596.
This is, I should think, the largest hospital organisation in the United
Kingdom.
Lieut.-Col. Mort has kindly furnished me with some interesting particulars
from which I gather that there has been no material change in the central
hospital, except that accommodation has been made for 300 beds for treatment
of compound fracture of the femur, where the results have been most
satisfactory in producing useful limbs.
The whole of the Strand Union Workhouse is being handed over by the
War Office, now that it is no longer needed as a Belgian Refuge, and at the
end of the year three sections were in occupation, namely the Nurses' Home,
a curative gymnasium and accommodation for members of the R.A.M.C.
Accommodation is being provided for massage, electric treatment, baths,
workshops and educational schools, so that (after operative treatment) the
men can be prepared to take a useful part on their discharge as civilians.
As regards Infectious Disease amongst those on His Majesty's
Service, 11 cases were notified—1 scarlet fever, 7 erysipelas and 3 measles (1
rubella). As regards tubercle, I received notice of 6 oases of pulmonary
disease, five males and one female, but no other forms of tubercle.
The Deaths that occurred in the Edmonton Military Hospital
totalled 111—23 from wounds, 3 from gas poisoning incurred on service
abroad, 1 from an explosion in munition factory, 1 from being run over by