Important medical aspects of the French Canal
Contrary to any idea that has been disseminated throughout the world, related to the French Canal debacle, the area of health was taken very much into account, particularly in its healing aspect.
Beginning in January 1881, groups of physicians, nurses, nurses aides, and other technicians began arriving on the Isthmus. Among them were individuals who were outstanding in their fields, such as Edward Carcenac, member of the London Royal College of Surgeons; Louis Companyo, who acquired expertise in the successful Suez endeavor; and Frederick Pidou, of the Medical School of Paris, who was the Chief of Sanitary Services.
Count de Lesseps was the first to lend his full support to this phase of the enterprise, inasmuch as he had suffered the loss of his first wife in the cholera epidemic that was unleashed during the building of the Suez Canal in Egypt.
In Panama, the first casualties of this disease were seen at a small hospital run by the St. Vincent de Paul Sisters of Charity, while two full-fledged hospitals were being built in each of the terminal cities on a larger and more accelerated scale.
With uncommon vision, small dispensaries were built to provide the required prompt and immediate primary care to workers; these were located along the railroad tracks, in sites such as Gatun, Emperador, Matachín, Bas Obispo, Paraíso, Gorgona, and others.
Any employee who suffered an accident was seen as quickly as the situation required and then was taken by ambulance to Panama or Colon, depending on his physical condition.
This system was widely accepted, and at the same time it afforded good overall medical care.
On September 12, 1882, the Panama Central Hospital was inaugurated, a grand 500-bed capacity institution, built at a cost of five million dollars—quite a hefty sum for that period.
The first-rate medical staff was given support by the aforementioned Sisters of Charity who, although were not professional nurses, had learned by practice the art of caring for the sick. But above all, they administered great doses of compassion and understanding, which was very necessary at such difficult times in life.
The hospital had several well-designed wings, independent of each other. They were well ventilated and rested on pillars off the ground.
Similar to the modern concept of today, patients were placed in hospital wards according to their specific illness and diagnosis.
The physical installations earned the praise and admiration of everyone, mainly those of a Canadian physician named Wolfred Nelson, whose five-year private practice in Panama was conducted from the Grand Hotel in Cathedral Plaza.
| Nelson wrote a book entitled Five Years in Panama in which he made very positive comments about the medical care of that time, such as "the hospitals were undoubtedly the best, and it was the most perfect hospital system ever built in the tropics", a thought that William C. Gorgas would corroborate, when he said that (the Panama Central Hospital) "was a much better institution than any in the United States." |
 Col. William C. Gorgas |
The statements of this author, who had been so biased against the French, must then be taken as true and accurate, inasmuch as his great personal dislike for Count de Lesseps, whom he called "the Great Undertaker", was widely known
Another important medical consideration during the construction of this waterway was the recovery phase, very well understood and developed in the establishment of a convalescent center on the Island of Taboga. The cost was approximately half a million dollars for a twenty-five-bed facility that operated at full occupancy for many years.
However, they failed miserably in the preventive aspect, mainly because nothing was known about mosquitoes and their role in spreading yellow fever and malaria (stegomya fasciata back then, and nowadays, aedes aegypti and anopheles, respectively).
Despite the financial scandals that developed during the French Canal era, the medical force was fully committed, to the extent of their abilities, to their heroic mission.
The mortality rate ran rampant among the physicians, as well as among the 24 nurses who later joined the team; twenty-one of whom gave their lives to this idealistic and patriotic humanitarian effort.
A mighty battle was fought against the diseases, a hostile environment, as well as against the slander and intrigue that began to flourish as it became evident that this enormous undertaking of courage and personalities was not moving along as was expected.
The performance of the French in the medical arena left a series of very favorable imprints and experiences that were very ably used and maximized to their fullest, years later, by the Americans.
