The passing of the war brings us to a new period of missionary history. For one thing, it is a time to evaluate the work of the past. The apostle Paul said, "The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." The work of Seventh-day Adventist medical missions has been tried in the crucible of war. And it has not been found wanting.
The Penang Mission Clinic and Hospital served the peoples of northern Malaya for many years, treating upwards of 20,000 patients each year. They came afflicted with malaria, typhoid, dysentery, tropical ulcers, yaws, venereal diseases, leprosy, and all the other grievous maladies that plague mankind. With the coming of war, bombs rained upon Penang, causing disease to spread and suffering to increase. The hospital unit was taken by the authorities for military use, but at the clinic the good work went forward in the interest of the public.
New helpers were recruited and trained. Every piece of bandage or cloth from the dwindling stores was put to its utmost use. Every drop of precious medicine was employed to best advantage. The hydrotherapy department enlarged its activities. And many lives were thus saved through this loving ministry of Chinese, Indian, and Malay workers. And incredible though it may seem, the brethren were able to expand the work by the opening of small clinics in three other places.
The Bangkok Clinic seems to have been the only missionary institution to remain in operation in Siam during the war. A well-trained doctor, a refugee from Europe, came to the assistance of the institution in the absence of denominational missionary doctors. Supplies were short, but the brethren persevered. The clinic prospered financially, so that it was possible to send considerable assistance to the union headquarters where the committee was struggling to maintain the work throughout the union. Furthermore, the clinic sent 2,000 ticals (about $500) through the International Red Cross to minister to the needs of the European war prisoners who were in the notorious labor camps of northern Siam, as well as sending substantial sums to several other worthy charities.
In the Philippines the Manila Sanitarium and Hospital was forced to discontinue its public service during a part of the war while the institution Was used as a naval hospital. In the battle for the liberation of Manila the hospital building was wrecked, as well as the publishing house nearby. The only structure left standing and usable in a group of a dozen mission buildings was the chapel of stone. Before the smoke had ceased to rise from ruined Manila, the hospital staff had organized and opened two clinics —one in the stone chapel, and another in the Chinese church some distance away—and were soon at work ministering to the thousands who came for help.
Three of the smaller medical interests should be mentioned. In Batavia, Java, Sister Horn, whose husband spent the period of the war in internment camps in Sumatra and India, gave continuous and devoted service in the Adventist Polyclinic, where her nursing skill and that of others on the staff brought many blessings to the people of Batavia.
In Saigon, French Indo-China, the maternity home operated by Sister Bentz, not only performed a noble mission in that city, but also made its contribution to the financial stability of the whole organization. Even in Borneo, at our little mission station on the Tatau River, the courage of the brethren did not fail, nor their simple medical ministration falter.
Large sections of the world lie destitute and languishing where medical service can bring relief to conditions that are most pitiful in their appeal. We must now all rally to the greatest need and opportunity ever faced by this church in its missionary program.
