A surgical operation in progress in the operating theatre at the prisoner of war (POW) hospital ...

Places
Accession Number 157874
Collection type Photograph
Object type Negative
Maker Unknown
Place made Burma Thailand Railway: Nakom Paton
Date made c. 1944
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

A surgical operation in progress in the operating theatre at the prisoner of war (POW) hospital camp. Of the 896 operations which were performed here there was a mortality rate of 18. In January 1944, using POW and native labour, the Japanese began the construction of this major POW hospital for the chronically ill and amputees at Nakom Paton, on the main Singapore-Thailand railway, fifty six kilometres west of Bangkok. Lieutenant Colonel Albert E. Coates, Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) was appointed as Chief Medical Officer. At its peak the camp contained 7,353 POWs.