'Mesopotamia Commission. Report of the Commission Appointed by Act of Parliament to Enquire into the Operations of War in Mesopotamia, together with a Special Report by Commander J Wedgwood, DSO, MP, and Appendices. London: HMSO, 1917.' [‎45v] (90/248)

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PAKT X.—MEDICAL BREAKDOWN.
E. Responsibility of Secretary of State, Viceroy and Commander-in-Chief.
Adviser to the Secretary of State in our judgment hindered the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. giving
all the assistance that it might have done in the difficulties that arose. Since the
management of the Mesopotamia Expedition was in the hands of the Indian Govern
ment until it was transferred to the War Office, it does not appear to us that any
responsibility for the medical services further than we have here stated rested with the
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. . We may add that Mr. Austen Chamberlain’s communications to the
Indian Government, so soon as he began to be aware that the medical provision for
the Mesopotamia Campaign was not adequate, are, in our judgment, admirable in tone
and purpose. Had they been responded to in India as they ought to have been, the
medical administration in Mesopotamia would have been improved two or three months
sooner than it was. We only regret that these communications did not at any
time take the form of a formal despatch to the Government of India which it would
have been impossible for the military administration to neglect.
(b) To Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, as Viceroy, belongs the general iesponsibility
attaching to his position as* the head of the Indian Government, to which had
been entrusted the management of the Expedition, including the provision of medical
services. In regard to the actual medical administration he appears to us to have
shown throughout the utmost good will: but considering the paramount authority of
his office, his action was not sufficiently strenuous and peremptory.
(c) The Commander-in-Chief was responsible for the well-being of the Army in
Mesopotamia. He should have realised early in the campaign the necessity of enlarg
ing and improving the medical provision of the troops fighting in that country, and
should have seen that his Directors of Medical Services carried out such a policy.
His failure to do so seems to have been due to his preoccupation with other claims
upon the military resources of India, and to his want of knowledge of the true state of
affairs in Mesopotamia. This ignorance would have been removed if he had thought
himself able to visit Mesopotamia itself, and would have been mitigated if he could
have spent some time at Bombay. But he remained at Simla or at Delhi relying on ^
official reports, and refused to believe in the Mesopotamian deficiencies. He failed to
respond quickly and effectively to the alarm raised by the Secretary of State and the
Viceroy in the autumn and winter of 1915, and to institute such enquiries as the case
demanded. It is impossible to acquit him of a dereliction of duty in deprecating
evil reports about the medical provision in Mesopotamia at a time when information
was in his office which more than justified the deepest anxiety.
F. Supplementary.
Position since April, 1916.
100. Without going into too many details, we feel we should acknowledge the aetiv ties
of the medical authorities during the summer of 1916. In India, on the departure of
Surgeon-General MacNeece, Surgeon-General Sir Pardey Lukis, I.M.S., was appointed
Director of Medical Services and held the post until (in accordance with the unwritten
law that forbids a Surgeon-General of the I.M.S. to serve as D.M.S., India), Surgeon-
General O’Donnell arrived to take his place.
101. Sir Pardey Lukis’s term of office was one of energy—much additional hospital
accommodation was provided, convalescent sections were established both for British
and Indian troops, 16 stationary sets of X-ray apparatus were ordered for military hospitals
in India, the provision hitherto being confined to mobile sets, five of which were now released
for use in Mesopotamia ; electric light and fans were ordered for several hospitals, and
the status of Embarkation Medical Officers at Bombay and Karachi was improved. Final
sanction was received for the increase of the Army Bearer Corps from 9,500 to 14,000.
The Government of India was asked for the first time to purchase motor ambulance cars,
instead of relying, as hitherto, on private donors.
102. Meanwhile, with an eye to things actually in Mesopotamia, additional staffs were
despatched for river hospital steamers, active steps were taken to send increased apparatus *
for water sterilisation ; a special “ Mesopotamian ” diet for British troops was drawn
up and approved ; additional river hospital steamers and barges were ordered from home ;