THE pioneering work done at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup, for servicemen badly disfigured during the First World War was featured in a BBC television programme at the weekend.
Timewatch — The Last Day of World War One was one of a series of events commemorating this year’s 90th anniversary of the 1918 armistice.
Dr Andrew Bamji, the rheumatology consultant at Queen Mary’s and the hospital archivist, was interviewed by Michael Palin on the programme, about the fate of the thousands of severely injured servicemen returning from the war.
Five thousand of them were treated at the Sidcup hospital, which was a base for one of the pioneers of plastic surgery, Sir Harold Gillies.
Dr Bamji said: “Queen Mary’s was a pioneering hospital, specialising in plastic surgery and facial reconstruction.
“The work done during the war made life bearable for thousands of men.”
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