Chirurgia w czasach wojny – losy majora lekarza Henryka Mazanka, kierownika grupy chirurgicznej Szpitala Ewakuacyjnego nr 21 w Lublinie, podczas kampanii wrześniowej 1939 roku

Abstract

SURGERY IN TIMES OF WAR – THE FATE OF MAJOR DOCTOR HENRYK MAZANEK, HEAD OF THE SURGICAL GROUP OF THE EVACUATION HOSPITAL NUMBER 21 IN LUBLIN, DURING THE SEPTEMBER CAMPAIGN

The article presents the wartime fate of Maj. lek. Henryk Mazanek, senior orderly of the surgical department of the District Hospital No. 5 in Cracow, one of the pioneers of blood-letting in Poland. In September 1939, he headed the surgical team of Hospital No. 21 in Lublin. On the basis of his experience, the difficulties of the hospital‘s work and assistance to war victims were shown, as well as conclusions about the shortcomings of the organization of medical care in the September campaign. Maj. lek. Henryk Mazanek was a military surgeon. In the first days of the war he received a mobilization assignment to the 21st evacuation hospital in Lublin. The hospital was opened on the night of September 7-8, and immediately received patients for dressing and surgery. Throughout the entire period of operation, shortages of materials and personnel were struggled with. The facility was evacuated to Lviv on the morning of September 13, and did not expand again until the end of the war. On September 18 in Sniatyn, the hospital staff crossed the Romanian border on the commandant‘s orders. Major Mazanek‘s account reveals the inadequacies of the health service in the early period of the war. Staff and logistical deficiencies were compounded by poor work organization, as well as the ill-considered evacuation of the hospital. These experiences should be a lesson for those in charge of the health care system, the good organization of which can greatly help doctors operate in crisis situations.