HOSPITALS/DRUGS/NURSES TRAINING/JORDAN MEDICAL COUNCIL/REFUGEES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R001900570001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 16, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

PRO SS1NC COPS
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SEE BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR ADDITIONAL SPECIAL CONTROLS, IF. ANY
INFORMATION REPORT
PREPARED AND DISSEMINATED BY
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Hospitals/Drugs/Nurses Training/Jordan
Medical CouncilAwkwe"
meaning of the- -p -
of which
PLACE ACQUIRED (By source)
DATE ACQUIRED (By source) DATE OF INFORMATION (Date or dates, on or between which,
1947 to present events or conditions described in report existed)
15 March 1955
INFORMAi ION
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Photo Enclosure(s) Nut hq ccofilmea
2. In Bethlehem there was a hospital guilt in 1908 by the Swedish Lutheran
Mission. It had not been in operation for some time. It vas turned
over for the care of ref er, and soon after it was in operatics? wa
-named the Arab Natirmal Hospital. This hospital has three stories
and is made of native stone. Its moral capacity is 75 beds and it
has four private rooms. The first floor has the offices, messes
quarters, laboratories, kitchen and dining room; on the second
floor, a surgical room and ward for surgery patients. The third
floor is for medical patients. Since the opening of the hospital in
1948 and up to over 16 thousand
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patients have been admitted.
5. We average 10 surgical operations daily, seven days a week. The open-
mouth (ether) method of administering anesthetics is used and is done by
25M6-who also teaches nursing, supervises nurses, has charge of the
surgical roans, attends medical cases, and assists with the administration
of the hospital. The staff of the Arab National Hospital consist; of three
physicians, all of whom are capable of doing surgery, three staff nurses,
two laboratory technicians, 15 student nurses and 20 workers, such as
cooks, waitresses, and hospital helpers. The highest salary paid to any-
one one the Staff is US$100 a month. The lowest paid is US$10 a month.
During vacation, refugee students at the American University in Beirut
help in the hospitals and in the refugee camps.
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U v i vvau, vu~-` t,az y ouji-aing mad e O ti
stone was completed, now (1.955 houses a fairly m:lo' ern e e ical aoorattoory.
This building and equipment including modern x-ray equiPrnent) were gifts
of a ITS organization. Our own trainad technical Perso. net operate the
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The lighting facilities in the
two surgical rooms are poor. There is no ambulance service. Patients are
carried in by their friends.
Water for the hospital is piped from nearby springs and is chlorinated be-
fore human consumption. Primitive toilets, of the 1900 vintage, are used,
and the refuse is collected daily and burned. Garbage and other refuse
is hauled to a dump for disposal. Electricity is furnished by the city of
Bethlehem. The one real and serious inconvenience is that the hospital has
no heating facilities.
To the Arab refugees who have no income, all medical and hospital facilities
are free. For those who can pay, a charge of US$2 a day for a hospital bed
is made. US$10-15 for surgery is charged. These
ments t
pa
k
y
a
e Care of
approximate
ly 15 per cent of the cost of operating the hospital. Private
donations take care of.the remainder. The annual operating cost of the
hospital is US$30 thousand.
10. At the hospitals that I serve we have a sufficient quantity of ordinary
drugs. Occasionally we have shipments of antibiotics. All of these drugs
come to us in the form of gifts, mostly from the US, and some from the UK.
Because of no facilities we have no blood bank. When blood transfusion is
necessary we call upon selected refugees who always respond willingly and
for no charge. We have a supply of dry plasma which was receive. from th4~
US. It is out of date but we still use it. Since lcm wr, have been making
our olnn snkellpox, typhoid, antirabies and antichol.er- vaccines in the
Jerusalem Central Government Laboratory.
not available. The only research that is going on in the Jordan arr eagth is
know of ea that I consists of culosis of the intestines and the testing of new drugs clinical research in tuber-
heart failures for treatment eaof
11. The most common diseases in the refugee areas are: Intestinal infection,
chest complications, malnutrition, and tuberculosis. Infectious diseases
are typhoid, diphtheria, malaria, smallpox, sad typhus. Infant mortality in
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the refugee camps is 36 per one hundred. There is very little syphilis or
other venereal diseases in the refugee area. This is due to the morality
of the refugees.
12. In 1951, what is known as the Nurses' Training Center was set up in the
Arab National Hospital. Students for this training are selected from the
refugee groups. These students are required to have an education comparable
to a high school education in the US, must be of good health and reputation,
and of high morals. A board, which includes the Minister of Health of
Jordan, and a representative from the American University of Beirut, ap-
proves all applications. The nurses' course is for a period of three years,
and in addition to the practical experience in the hospital, each student
must attend classes where the following subjects are taufht: Physiology,
Anatomy, Surgery, Medicine, Public Health and Infant Welfare. All text
books used are from the US. As of March 1955, 25 students have received
diplomas from the Jordan Department of Health. 15 students are nowflarch
in training. Nurses, after,receiving their diplomas, are employed in the
hospitals, in private clinics, and many of them go ,ut into the refugee
villages, where they serve as Public Health Nurses. We have found that
these graduate nurses are very capable, hard working, thoughtful and serious.
With additional training, they become dependable technicians, such as
X-ray operators, laboratory technicians, anesthetists, and in the refugee
villages are capable of doing minor surgery and the prescribing of medicines,
.13. All hospitals in Jordan are governed by a Board of Governors. The hospitals
are first registered with the Government Health Department, which grants the=
authority to operate as charitable institutions. Regulations for the opera-
tion of hospitals are made by the Government Health Department, which closely
watches, by regular inspections, the unit and personnel. Only registered
physicians, surgeons and nurses are permitted to practice in these
hospitals. There are no special hospitals for infectious diseases. Hospitals
treat all types of illnesses.
11. The Jordan Medical Council was created by an act of Parliament, which pro-
vides that the medical personnel in Jordan shall elect their council and
the council elect the officers. The Minister of Health of Jordan is the
Chairman of the Council. Throughout the larger cities of Jordan there are
local medical associations which meet monthly and are well attended.
15. In 1946 Dr (fnu) Lambi, a US medical missionary
who had spent most of his life in Africa, came to
Palestine. There he saw the tremendous toll of death that was caused by
tuberculosis. He obtained the permission of King Abdullah to build a
hospital for the tubercular. The hospital was started in 1952 and was
completed last year, 1954. Dr Iambi died before completion of the hospital,
but his wife is carrying on and is in charge.
This hos-
pital is a 70-bed hospital. Alt4ough it is supposed to be entirely for
tubercular people, other patients are admitted. It is located near Hebrun.
25X1 X6 It has a fairly modern surgical department
557
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16. The Spafford Hospital, located within the walls of the old city of Jerusalem,
was formerly a naarses' home. It is the only caowlete children's hospital
in the toddle Bast. It is sponsored and partially financed by the Awrl
Colony in Jerusalem. This hospital was first opened as a children's hospital
in 1952, and since the opening, over 14 hundred children have been registered.
The hospital is complete with surgical, medical, X-ray and laboratory
_
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facilities. In 1954, a new surgical wing was added to the hospital, at
a cost of US$35 thousand, a gift from a US organization. The same or-
ganization gave US$8 thousand for surgical equipment.
17. In the city of Bethlehem proper, there are estimated to be 24 thousand
people. Of these, 14 thousand are Arab refugees. It is also estimated
that there are 460 thousand refugees, including new-borne which are esti-
mated to be 25 thousand each year, located in all of the refugee areas
of Jordan.
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18. Most of the financial help in maintaining M health program, which reaches
out into the refugee villages, comes fraau persons and organizations in the
US. The names of the donors are not generally known to the refugees living
in the villages because bitterness still exists in the minds of many of them
toward the US. We know that this attitude is diminishing because our work-
ers in the refugee villages daily bring us information about the health and
well-being of the refugees which tell us that the thinking of the refugees
is becoming more and more rational. Communism and other subversive ac-
tivities are gradually losing their foothold in the minds of the refugees.
Formerly, considerable subversive literature, all produced in Tel Aviv and
distributed among the refugees, would be brought to me by our workers. Now
only an occasional bit of this literature is brought to my attention. Some
of this decline is undoubtedly due to the law which makes it unlawful for
anyone to be a member of the Communist Party and unlawful for the distribu-
tion of Communist literature. This law has been strictly enforced and many
arrests and imprisonments have been made. We, of the refugee group, believe
that this decline in the' distribution. of this literature is due principally
to our efforts in making idle men and women busy, in establishing schools,
in creating farms to produce'ixach of the food for the refugees, and in
establishing a health program which will eventually reach out to all of the
refugees. We believe that our plan will produce more lasting results than
the imprisonment of the offenders of that law because it creates s tyre
out of those who have been imprisoned.,
Lda file in the CIA Graphics library are the following described photographs:
1. Refugees arriving at the Arab National Hospital.
2. Jordan Medical Council in session.
3. Medical Laboratory at Arab National Hospital.
4. X-ray equipment at Arab National Hospital.
5. X-ray equipment at Arab National Hospital.
6. Patient and ward facilities at Arab National Hospital.
7. Under-nourished child
8. 9. 10. 11. - Views of surgical operations -`>SIFZM ,G
rmatroir -ssnppfied for
~11fe interest of your analysts. It
it warrant dissemination by
1-1-04
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 ROUTING AND CONTROL RECORD
DO NOT DETACH FROM 'ON LOAN' DOCUMENTS
13 May 1955
DATE
TO:
-LUUU
TITLE
1. Refugees arriving at the Arab National Hospital,
2. 'Jordan Medical Council in session.
3. Medical Laboratory at Arab National Hospital.
4. X-ray equipment at Arab National Hospital.
5. X-ray equipment at Arab National Hospital.
6. Patient and war facilities at Arab National
Hospital.
7. Under-nourished child.
REMARKS S. 9. 10. & 11. - Views of surgical operations
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FOR RETENSION
BY ADDRESSEE
CIA Graphics Library
DOCUMENT(S) MUST BE RETURNED TO
CONTACT DIVISION/00
CONTACT DIVISION/ 00 IS
ROOM
Quarters Eye
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