History of Medicine Section, April 2016
19/04/2016 in Setanta House, (First Floor),
A Dublin Hospital on the Western Front
Joseph Harbison, Associate Professor, Medical Gerontology, TCD and St James Hospital
In 1917 a group of Irish doctors volunteered to take over one of the temporary base hospitals in France, and the 13th Stationary Hospital became the 83rd (Dublin) General Hospital. The 17th / 83rd opened only a couple of months after the outbreak of war, and became a specialist unit for managing face and jaw injuries and eye injuries. It remained in operation until long after the 1918 armistice, even after the departure of its Irish staff.