Military hospital food quality stayed deficient despite repeated complaints and inspections

Evidence

Another area in which the problem of lack of funds manifested itself was the quality of food issued to the military hospitals. In spite of Clot Bey’s explicit regulations that soldiers should be fed clean, well-cooked food and to have a healthy diet, the soldiers in Qaṣr al-‘Ainī hospital were constantly complaining of bad food and this was a regular complaint throughout the hospital’s history during Mehmed Ali’s reign. When in 1836, for example, an examination was conducted on the conditions of the Tura and Qaṣr al-‘Ainī hospitals in Cairo, it was discovered, among other things, that both hospitals were issuing less meat to their patients than was stipulated by the regulations. When the report was sent to Mehmed Ali he forwarded it to the War Department to take the necessary steps to alleviate the problems. The Deputy Director of the War Department returned the report to the Pasha, however, claiming that this was not the War Department’s business but that of the Health Council. The Pasha refused to accept this pretext, and insisted that the War Department deal with the complaints. Two years later, when the Pasha saw for himself the appalling condition of the hospitals in Cairo, he wrote to both Clot Bey and the Deputy Director of the War Department urging them to co-ordinate their efforts in improving the conditions of the hospitals. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1134

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the rivalry between War Department and Health Council, relevant to the performance of Mehmed Ali’s military institutions the reader is investigating.