Egyptian regimental hospitals in Syria suffered severe hygiene and staffing failures

Evidence

Given this problem of lack of funds it should not be surprising to discover that the hospitals in Cairo, let alone the regimental ones in Syria, were not particularly hygienic. When Selim Bey, the Colonel of the Guardia Regiment, went on an investigative tour of the barracks of his regiment in Syria, he found the whole place stinking deplorably. This, he discovered, was caused by the fact that no one was assigned to clean the bathrooms and that the rooms where the wounded were kept smelt foul because their occupants were still wearing blood-stained clothes. On visiting the hospital he found more than 200 patients with scabies sleeping on the floor because their mattresses were not filled with straw. When the nurses were asked why the mattresses were empty, they answered that they could not do all the jobs themselves and that they had no workers to help them. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1138