"Here I must mention that Dr. Inglis won universal respect in the
Serbian medical profession for her skill as a surgeon. During a great
number of years past we have had women physicians, and very capable they
are too; but, for some reason or other, Serbian women had never
specialized in surgery. Hence it was not without scepticism that the
male members of the profession received the news that the organizer of
the Scottish hospitals was a skilled surgeon. Until Dr. Inglis actually
reached Serbia and had performed successfully in their presence, they
refused to believe this 'amiable fable,' but from the moment that they
had seen her work they altered their opinion, and, to the great joy of
our Serbian women, they no longer proclaimed the fact that surgery was
not a woman's sphere. This is but one of the services Dr. Inglis has
rendered our woman movement in Serbia. To-day we have several active
societies working for the enfranchisement of women, and there is no
doubt that the record of the Scottish Women's Hospital, organized and
equipped by a Suffrage society and entirely run by women, is helping us
greatly towards the realization of our goal. It was a cause of delight
to our women and of no small surprise to our men that the Scottish Units
that came out never had male administrators.
"It is very difficult to say all one would wish about Dr. Inglis's
beneficial influence in Serbia in the few lines which I am asked to
write. But before I conclude I may be allowed to give my own impression
of that remarkable woman. What struck me most in her was her grip of
facts in Serbia. I had a long conversation with her at Valjevo in the
summer of 1915, before the disaster of the triple enemy onslaught, and
while we still believed that the land was safe from a fresh invasion.
She spoke of her hopes and plans for the future of Serbia. 'When the war
is over,' she said, 'I want to do something lasting for your country. I
want to help the women and children; so little has been done for them,
and they need so much. I should like to see Serbian qualified nurses and
up-to-date women's and children's hospitals. When you will have won your
victories you will require all this in order to have a really great and
prosperous Serbia.' She certainly meant to return and help us in our
reconstruction.
"I saw Dr. Inglis once again several weeks later, at Krushevatz, where
she had remained with her Unit to care for the Serbian wounded,
notwithstanding the invitation issued her by Army Headquarters to
abandon her hospital and return to England. But Dr. Inglis never knew a
higher authority than her own conscience. The fact that she remained to
face the enemy, although she had no duty to this, her adopted country,
was both an inspiration and a consolation to those numerous families who
could not leave, and to those of us who, being Serbian, had a duty to
remain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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