Book Case

When I was a medical student in 1993, my overseas elective was in Nazareth Hospital in The Galilee, then run by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society (EMMS). It’s the oldest continually functioning hospital in Israel, and has come a long way since 1861. Malcolm Billings’ book tells the story of the Armenian tailor’s son from Ottoman Constantinople who trained in Medicine in Edinburgh and, after service in the Crimean War, set up the only healthcare facility between Beirut and Jerusalem. It wasn’t easy for Dr Pacradooni Kaloost Vartan and his Scottish wife Anna. Disputes with the Ottoman authorities as well as illness in the family (5 of their 10 children died) and lack of resources almost snuffed out the fledgling clinic, but through a succession of skilled directors and amid huge geopolitical turmoil, the hospital survived. Today, it is a modern (though under-resourced) facility serving much of Northern Israel – Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Druze. In November 2016, I will be returning for my second cycle ride in the region, this time to raise money for the Paediatric Unit: http:// justgiving.com/shanenaz2016 . At the 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012, I was privileged to meet the current generation of the Vartan family, many of whom had come over from England, and some who had never been to Nazareth before. This is an inspiring book, lifting back the veil on 19th Century medical practice in Palestine and the people of this incredible little Arab Israeli city.