Detachment 3 NZ General Hospital, Alexandria

Most of the ambulance trains from the Western Desert proceeded to Alexandria and the Canal Area, and could not be diverted to Cairo on account of congestion of the railways. It was therefore desirable that some provision should be made for looking after such 2 NZEF casualties as were likely to be evacuated through Alexandria. In October it at first seemed likely that 3 General Hospital would have to leave its site at Helmieh, which by hard work and organisation had come to be recognised as the best tented hospital in Egypt, and go to the Canal Area. Then there arose the possibility of taking over the Greek hospital at Alexandria, where the AIF had maintained 200 beds since the evacuation of Crete. The financial responsibility, however, would have been very heavy. Later, as an alternative proposition, it was arranged that the major part of the Anglo-Swiss hospital, Alexandria, be taken over. Arrangements for its transfer were very protracted, but on 22 November a detachment of 3 General Hospital staff under Lieutenant-Colonel E. L. Button went to Alexandria to run a 200-bed hospital. These extra beds were over and above the quota required to be supplied by 2 NZEF, except that the CCS was still not functioning. In order that the new hospital would not be considered a permanent institution, it was not called a 200-bed hospital but Detachment, 3 General Hospital.