Page 5 - The Princess Mary's Hospital 40pp book.pdf

The Royal Air Force (Temporary) Hospital, Akrotiri: 1956 –1963
In April 1954, Colonel Nasser became Prime Minister5of Egypt and by October he had signed an agreement with the British Secretary of State for War to withdraw all British troops from Egypt within twenty months. As a result British troops began dismantling their bases in the Canal Zone and relocating to Cyprus. This was the only other British territory in the Eastern Mediterranean and, hereafter, it became the main British base in the Middle East.
A new airfield, able to accommodate the largest and heaviest jet aircraft, was constructed on the Akrotiri peninsula. By 1 January 1956 its single runway of 6,000 feet was ready to use, followed by an extension to 9,000 feet to allow full V-Bomber6 operational capability by 1959.
The opening
On Thursday 9 February 1956, Royal Air Force (Temporary) Hospital Akrotiri opened its doors for outpatients. Twenty beds for medical cases were opened on 14 February, and main surgical facilities were available on
21 February, with a total of 40 beds. The Maternity Department opened two years later, in February 1958. There were now some 30,000 British servicemen, many with families, stationed in Cyprus.
Location
The original hospital was housed in five single-storey pre-fabricated buildings (Cawoods7) that had originally been Airmen’s married quarters, located either side of a road in an area of RAF Akrotiri around Harding Avenue and Duke Street, now completely redeveloped.
The first surgeon at the hospital, Squadron Leader (the late Air Vice- Marshal) Paddy Griffin, described the problems that arose following the first operation:
“When the patient was wheeled back from the operating table the theatre trolley was too wide to go through the doors of the ward (a converted sitting room). A rapid assessment of the situation and the unconscious patient was manhandled through a window back to his bed. The doors were quickly widened.”8
The theatre sister at the time, Squadron Officer Helen Cookson, recalled the difficulty of getting patients to and from operations:
“A camp road divided the theatre from the wards, and staff wheeling patients across the road often had to wait for passing traffic.”9
5Seven months after becoming Prime Minister, Colonel Nasser succeeded General Neguib as President of Egypt, on 17 November 1954. 6V-Bomber – the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan strategic bombers capable of delivering nuclear weapons inside the USSR.
7Cawood – named after the North Yorkshire company that constructed these pre-fabricated buildings. This company is still in business. 8Tenth Anniversary of RAF Hospital. Dateline ... Royal Air Force. No 208 dated 29 November 1973.
9As above.
3