Did the Committee’s work make a real difference?

Description:Accounts from the war front indicate that medical assistance was urgently required in Turkey. An account by Dr. Symons Eccles from Philippopoli written on 3rd November 1877 states that ‘the sick…are in many cases suffering from the circumstances in which they are placed, rather than from the diseases which originally brought them into their present miserable position’. The scarcity of medical provisions indicates that the Committee’s fundraising work was extremely valuable.

Reports from the medical staff dispatched by the Stafford House Committee indicate that the medical provisions which the Committee were funding were making a considerable difference in the treatment and recovery of wounded and sick soldiers. Accounts sent back from the front describe the deplorable condition in which soldiers were arriving at the hospital. However, the fact that these patients were now able to receive more effective medical care indicates that the work of the Committee was making a real impact.