In
1903 there were 1486 in-patients
In
1905 there were 2036 in-patients
In
1907 there were 2400 in-patients
Maxwell,
with a Dr. Jeffreys of Shanghai published, in 1910
an authoritative work "Diseases of China"
which was widely used, a second edition came in 1925.
(Maxwell's brother, John Preston professor of obstetrics
and gynecology in the Peking Union medical College
where he worked until 1940. Both sons of Maxwell Senior,
therefore, contributed to medical science and education
in the Far East.) Maxwell moved to Shanghai in 1923;he
left behind him a well-equipped and extensive hospital.
He had greatly enhanced the fine reputation of the
medical work, which his father had founded.
In
central Taiwan the hospital in Chang-hua continued
the work which Gavin Russell had begun. In the early
years, before the roads were opened up, moving sick
patients long distances was very difficult. Besides
its general work the hospital dealt with one particular
condition. In isolated areas with no medical help,
prolonged obstructed childbirth resulted finally in
a deaf baby and injury to the maternal structures
resulting in permanent, constant leakage of urine
– (known as vesico-vaginal fistula). This condition
causes personal misery and often leads to ostracism
in society and divorce. Corrective operations were
performed successfully on 55 patients over the years,
bringing enormous relief. Accounts of the same condition
in Ethiopia have appeared on television in UK in recent
years.
In
Chang-hua hospital, as in the Tainan and Mackay hospitals,
before graduates from the medical college became available
to serve on the staff, able and intelligent young
men were trained by the medical missionaries in the
various departments of the hospital and also at evening
classes, to be assistant doctors. The usual period
was 4 – 5 years. These men then sat a government examination,
which gave them a limited license, allowing them to
practice medicine in the country but not in the towns.
These men played an important part in the medical,
cultural and community life of their districts. In
the 1920s the Chang-hua Hospital attempted a skin
graft operation on a boy whose thigh was denuded following
a severe infection and necrosis of the skin. It was
to be a homologous graft – from human being to human
being (one of the missionaries gave skin to assist).
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