Çanakkale Araştırmaları Türk Yıllığı (Apr 2011)
Çanakkale Muharebelerimde Cephede ve Cephe Dışında Sağlık Hizmetleri
Abstract
It is essential to know not only the shooting-war in the combats occurred in different fronts in the Gallipoli peninsula like Seddülbahir, Arıburnu, Anafartalar and Suvla, but also how the medical services such as hospital was operated in those fronts. With launching the Gallipoli campaign, the entente states aimed at a front which would last very shortly and bring many gains. However, their all expectations came to naught. The Gallipoli became a long-duration battle-front and resulted in more casualties than expected. On the other hand, that situation was a resurrection for Turkish people. Nevertheless, the price of the victory was very high. Due to long-term battle, there were so many injuries as much as the number of deaths. The case of injury was accompanied by pediculosis, malaria, cholera, dysentery, paratyphoid, typhus, icterus, inflammation and scorbutic. Besides, the war environment also brought about some other health problems among soldiers. These were in general insomnia, asthenia, irregular heartbeats and deafness. Despite all these problems, hygenic measures were carried out sensitively. The Turkish Medical Department averted any imminent spread of infectious disease among the army which was deployed in a narrow area. In 9 months, 110.220 injuries, 70.939 patients and those who needed sick leave were sent to the hospitals of "Menzil" and "Kızılay". In this period, 48.268 patients and 22.619 injuries were treated at hospitals. Surprisingly, the deathrate at hospitals was low. Only 11.6 per cent of patients and 2.7 per cent of injuries were lost. The hospitals of the fifth army were dominantly in østanbul. When the hospitals reached full capacity, the army and Kızılay began to use the public buildings such as schools as hospitals, just like the Balkan wars. Since most of their students were in the battle, the medical schools, Gülhane and østanbul, interrupted their education and became additional military hospitals. This health service was carried out under the authority of the chief physician of the command of Istanbul along with the domestic health committees, stretching over øzmit, Eskiúehir and Konya, in addition to the whole eastern Thrace. To transport the patients and injuries, it was tried to use a variety of land and sea vehicles as much as possible. The volunteers of charities, such as "The Consumption of National Women Association" (østihlak-ı Milli Kadınlar Cemiyeti), "the Association of Kızılay", "The Associations of the Turkish Hearts" (Türk Ocakları Cemiyeti ) and "The Associations of the Navy" (Donanma Cemiyetleri), and the nun teachers and nurses from non-Muslim civils worked at those hospitals. Moreover, the wives of the civil and military superior persons served voluntarily as nurse. It is an indispensible necessity of the scientific method to make the next generations known about these unnamed and humble muslim and non-muslim doctors of the war who assumed a hard task by serving in a great effort in a quite difficult battle zone, or at least to immortalize them by giving their names to medical institutions. In the end, this study is a modest essay. Although a number of primary sources have been used for this study, it may have some shortcomings in many aspects, due to the inadequacy of the materials.
