Staffing

The Commanding Officer of the new Kitchener Hospital was a veteran of the Indian Army, Brevet-Colonel Sir Bruce Seton, Bt. Colonel Seton had previously been the Honorary Surgeon to the Viceroy and Deputy Director-General of the Indian Medical Service was appointed the Commanding Officer of the new Kitchener hospital. [1]

Unlike the Pavilion hospital where female nurses were initially employed (but only in an administrative capacity and not allowed any direct nursing of Indian patients before eventually being withdrawn), at the Kitchener hospital women were never employed and all duties including nursing were performed by men. [2] Based on his experience in India, Colonel Seton declared that ‘Women as nurses are out of place in an Indian unit.’ [3] For further details on the rationale behind this policy see Analysis - The British Raj and Imperial Benevolence.

The Kitchener Hospital maintained a ratio of 1 orderly for every 10 hospital patients. [4] A separate building with a capacity of 400 adjacent to the hospital [5] was used to house all of the hospital staff with the exception of doctors who resided at various hotels and private houses in town.

Special quarters were also provided for Indian officers with 50 beds for them and their staff and cooks. [6]

Footnotes

1. “The Kitchener Indian Hospital”, The British Medical Journal (April 3, 1915) 612

2. David Omissi, “Europe Through Indian Eyes”, English Historical Review (Vol. 122, Numb 496, 2007) 379

3. Samuel Hyson and Alan Lester, “British India on trial: Brighton Military Hospitals and the politics of empire in World War I, Journal of Historical Geography (38 2012) 26

4. “The Kitchener Indian Hospital”, The British Medical Journal (April 3, 1915) 613

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.