Practical International Comradeship
--Dr. Norman Bethune, December 29th, 1936

T GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE to describe my personal observa-
I tions regarding the care of the sick and Wounded in Madrid. I
believe I am competent to do so on account of my experience n°l7
only as a doctor who served in the Great War 1914-1918 but as one
who held, up to the time of his arrival inSpain, thevpost of chief
of Service, Department of Thoracic Surgery and Bronchoscopy, Sacre
Coeur Hospital, Montreal, Canada. So what I will say will be based
on personal observations. ,

There are in Madrid today 57 hospitals with a total of over ten
thousand beds. They range from huge Military Hospitals, such as the
Palace Hotel, each with over a thousand beds, entirely confined to
wounded cases, down tosmall 50 bed special hospitals for cancer, etc.
Not only are the usual sicknesses of the civil populationsbeing care-
fully taken care of but thethousandsi of Wounded are receiving expert
care and attention. I

. Madrid Hospital Scene I  
As an example of this come with me to a large military hospital

  such as the Palace Hotel. Its operating room, in its great dining room,

with tremendous -crystal chandeliers and glittering gold mirrors, has
eight tables, side by side, eachstaffed by two doctors, an anaesthetist
and nurse. Here some of the most famousfsurgeons of Spain, the
equal, to say the least of any country inthe world, are at Work. Each
on his own specialty. ~ _ t _

Thisrfirst one is a famous brain surgeon who is now exploring a
Wound ofthe head. He once received $5,000 for a similar operation
in private practise, now he does it gladly for his $1.00 a day.

- Next to him a great abdominal surgeon is sewingiup carefully
multiple perforations of the intestine of a soldier shot through the
abdomen. Notice his movements. They are as quick, as expert, as care-
ful, as those which made him an International figure in his ‘profession-
This is his 20th operation today. He is tiredand weary but his love
of his countrymen, his pridein his art is as high as ever. ,

‘On the next table is a German soldier (an anti-fascist) shot
throughthe thighcwith at dum-dum bullet--——the exit of its passage
is large enough to hold one’s clenched fist. He must have anti—tetanus
serum and a blood transfusion before he leaves the table. . I

Here is another——a Pole-—shot through the shoulder and the
bullet has notyet appeared. Thereis no guess work.Before he
comes on the table the X-ray shows exactly where the bullet may be
successfully extracted. ‘ ' e

  The Kind of Help Needed .
Now all this is very spectacular. But What is happening above
in the Wards. Here they lie———roW on roW—-—Spaniards, English, German,
Italians, French, Belgium, Scotch, Irish, American. The wounded
soldiers of the greatest Anti-Fascist army theworldthas. yet seen.
They represent the United Front of International Anti-Fascism. They
have fought this war for you and for me. They need your help. '

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