BMH Singapore: The Shack and Egg Banjos by Moreen Doyle

BMH Singapore Gardens

 

BMH Singapore and Margaret House, my home for the next two years! The heat is stifling with high humidity but the School of Nursing at 70* offers some respite for the next few days. The mosquitos are loving my almost translucent white skin; weeping bites make for an uncomfortable time but our uniform of light grey polyester cotton is very comfortable. At least we don’t have to wear heavy army issue shoes, thank goodness, but black leather lace ups. Starched linen caps are the order of the day.



BMH Singapore has a very sad history, where the hospital and staff were overrun by the Japanese during WW2, none more poignant that when passing the football field where many souls had been buried. The guided tour of the hospital introduces me to the Dining Room where males and females are segregated by a large rattan room divider; interestingly, the rule, unspoken, is never broken or challenged by anyone, just accepted! The chefs are brilliant and more than happy to prepare a picnic lunch for day trips to the islands off Singapore; happy times, with beer/drinks cooling in the sea, a portable record turntable for music, rounders on the beach and wonderful snorkelling in clear blue seas. The NAAFI frequented by all other ranks of all disciplines is next door facing the gardens with its pond and badminton courts. The bullfrogs chatter is loud and clear.

The majority of wards are open to the elements, like our old TB wards in UK, where patients were nursed on the verandas. The tour includes my first placement, the Infectious Diseases ward. The ward is made up of many cubicles some large enough to house whole families although not intentionally so! The all pervasive smell is that of a smoky atmosphere combined with lysol solution. It becomes clear that the diseases here are wide ranging and commonplace, the most prevalent being Dystenteries, Shigella, Salmonella, but also Diptheria. With the advent of the Diptheria vaccine, it is now hard to comprehend the damage that this illness caused, wiping out whole families, often the most vulnerable, the elderly grandparents and the children. My first experience of major patient loss was losing 4 patients from a family of 6, hard to comprehend. Tuberculosis is also rife within the community and Public Health is sadly lacking. It is a multi ethic community with varying standards and disparity.

The team on the ward are wonderful, led by Corporal Suddin, a local nurse, very competent and supportive; to be fair, they needed to be, with a student who knew little about infection control. It is to their eternal credit that no student ever succumbed to illness. A South Vietnamese soldier, with Paratyphoid was transferred in, nursed in a darkened room, speaking no English or Malay which did present some problems, but he did recover! This particular ward, probably more than any other, has stood me in good stead throughout my career but ultimately demonstrated the vagaries in our NHS Infection control protocols!

Our training covered all specialities including theatres, which was to become my area of interest. Orthopaedics could be a bit challenging avoiding the big stag beetles on string! Something to get used to and a bit of lighthearted fun for bored squaddies! Maternity was always busy as Ghurka mums were admitted here rather than local hospitals; it did seem incongruous that we insisted on delivering their babies on a bed as opposed to them squatting, which was the norm for them! The Ghurkas, male and female, were always a pleasure to care for, the most wonderful people, courteous and kindly, I loved them! One of my endearing memories is accompanying a Ghurka Mum and her newborn, by ambulance, from BMH to The Cameron Highlands in Malaya. However, I did have to pass on the kind invite to attend the Gadhimai festival, where a bull is sacrificed! One of the funniest moment on the Surgical Ward (well it had our charge nurse in hysterics) was when a young Ghurka refused his medication and I stood over him, being very firm, until he took it! He then suggested that I would make a good wife for him, his 3rd, hence the hoots from my colleague doing the drug round! Memorable incidents in ITU included a young Ghurka wife, unconscious of unknown origin. No progress over two weeks so the local witchdoctor was called in to assist. She had been cursed by the 1st wife and fell into a coma, and now made a full recovery and was discharged. A young British girl was admitted with agranulocytosis following a Middle East tour of her dance troop; she had been prescribed antibiotics at each port of call for tonsillitis; sadly she did not recover.

Student nurses did not work on the Psychiatric ward but could be called if a female patient needed 'specialling.' Often patients were casevac’d to Netley Hospital, the Services Mental Hospital in Southampton. Highlights of life were night shopping at the markets in Orchard Road, the infamous Bugis Street, and egg Banjos from the wooden 'shack' across the road. One of the contingent would be detailed off to get the 'egg banjos' which were wonderful; basically an omelette with soya sauce, within a large baguette! Happy memories, once you got over your fear of eating from a shack with a mud floor and cats and chickens for company! I know of no ill effects over the whole period!  The other highlight was the opportunity to R & R in Penang where there was a  services holiday centre. Wonderful. It required an overnight train journey on a sleeper, to Kuala Lumpur, then transfer to Georgetown and a boat to Penang. I recall being awakened with tea and pink bananas for breakfast! Decadence, and I must mention the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel, not frequented often!!

In late 1969 the British Government were in the process of handing over Singapore Island to the Singapore citizens under Lee Kuan Yew; Australian and New Zealand Forces assisted in this transition. Change was the order of the day! The deployment will always hold wonderful memories and I feel privileged to have been the recipient of the training and all the opportunities afforded to me. I would repeat it in a heartbeat!

About the Author

Moreen Doyle, nee Munro, spent 2 years in student training at BMH Singapore but left the service on marriage, which was expected at this time. However, the time spent in the service underpinned a lifetime of nursing service in the NHS, specialising in Operating Theatres and Day Surgery and ended her career managing the service in Cayman Islands prior to retirement.