Facilities & Treatment

The large palace kitchen was converted into an operating theatre and an entrance hall into another. Signage in Gurmukhi, Urdu and Hindi were hung up throughout the hospital for the patients benefit. [1]

The Banqueting Room, Music Room, South Drawing Room and Saloon all served as wards while rooms upstairs were reserved for Indian officers. Each patient was given a spring bed with hair mattress, white blankets, sheets and pillows as well as a private locker in which to keep their food utensils and hospital clothing. Full details of the treatment and diet of the patient were written on a card that was kept at the foot of each bed. [2] Baths were also installed with hot and cold water in each section.

In order to keep the wards as clean as possible each section had its own surgical dressing room with electric sterilizers for dressings and medical instruments. By dressing the patient’s wounds here rather than in the wards helped to keep them tidy. [3] A disinfection machine was also setup for disinfecting a patient’s clothing and belongings on their arrival and a incinerator was installed for burning all soiled dressing and hospital refuse. [4]

Unlike the enlisted soldiers who shared the large open wards, Indian officers who were patients were given more private accommodations. Rooms on the first floor of the Pavilion were reserved for them and included private bedrooms and two sitting rooms where they could meet visitors or officials. [5]

A x-ray machine was installed at the pavilion and staffed by a London x-ray specialist. As a routine, every wound was x-rayed to help the surgeons identify the exact position of any bullet or shrapnel fragments. [6]

Other state of the art treatments and equipment popular at the time in treating war wounded included radiating heat therapy using portable radiant heat baths that were installed near the main entrance. [7] Another 'advanced' technique at the time involved the application of electric current and two trained masseurs were employed for this electric therapy as well as massage.  [8] Medical dressings for the wounded were very expensive and as a result volunteer ladies from the town created their own made from sawdust pads or dried sphagnum moss in muslin covered pads. [9]

Footnotes

1. A Short History In English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers (Corporation of Brighton, 1915) 9

2. Ibid. 8

3. Ibid. 9

4. Ibid. 12

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Joyce Collins, Dr Brightons Indian Patients December 1914 - January 1916 (Brighton Books, 1997) 20

8. A Short History In English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers (Corporation of Brighton, 1915) 12

9. Joyce Collins, Dr Brightons Indian Patients December 1914 - January 1916 (Brighton Books, 1997)  20