28
CHAPTER 4
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
In recent years a Spinal Injuries Centre has been set up under the leadership of Dr V.
Knapek at Ostrava in the coal-mining and industrial district of Czechoslovakia, which is
run on Stoke Mandeville lines. Dr Knapek has also included sport as part of the rehabili–
tation of these patients and in recent years paraplegic teams from Czechoslovakia have
taken part in the Stoke Mandeville Games.
FRANCE
After the Second World War, it was the neurologist Professor A.Grossiord who, in
co-operation with Dr J.Benassy, an orthopaedic surgeon, specialized in the treatment
and rehabilitation of spinal cord afflictions including traumatic lesions at Raymond
Poincare Hospital, Garches, near Paris. Other specialized units are the Centre de Reeduca–
tion Motrice in Fontainebleau, Paris, under Dr M.Maury, who spent some time for
specialized training at Stoke Mandeville. Grossiord, Maury and Benassy are founder
members of the International Medical Society of Paraplegia and have made important
contributions in various aspects of paraplegia and tetraplegia. Another unit is that of the
Invalides, Paris, for ex-servicemen. A Spinal Injuries Unit is at present under construc–
tion at the General Rehabilitation Centre in Mulhouse under Dr P.Dollfus, a graduate
of Stoke Mandeville. Dr Dollfus is consultant to the neurosurgical unit at Colmar where
he sees all acute spinal injuries immediately after admission.
GERMANY
During the last 20 years, as a result of the initiative taken by some leading members of
the medical profession, the V.D.K. (Verband Deutscher Kriegsopfer) and the Industrial
Insurance Organisations (Berufsgenossenschaften), active steps were taken in Germany
for the establishing of a comprehensive management of traumatic paraplegics and tetra-
plegics. Medical, nursing and physiotherapy personnel were sent to Stoke Mandeville
for training from hospitals for ex-servicemen (Versorgungskrankenhauser), such as
Pyrmont and Bayreuth and other hospitals. The Berufsgenossenschaften were the first
to organize Spinal Injuries Units such as in Koblenz, Bochum, Duisburg, Frankfurt,
Murnau, Tubingen and Ludwigshafen. Instructions were given to all administrative
regional divisions of their organization to ensure that their insured workers who sustained
spinal cord injuries were admitted immediately or as soon as possible to their own
Spinal Units. Cases admitted to other hospitals should be checked to ensure that they
are receiving adequate treatment. An investigation through the medical adviser of their
organization is requested to clarify the circumstances in instances where, through
deliberate retention in a hospital, avoidable complications are reported. In due course,
these measures have proved very beneficial in congregating traumatic paraplegics and
tetraplegics in these spinal units. In view of the steadily increasing number of traumatic
spinal cord lesions in Germany as a whole, the administration of the Berufsgenossen–
schaften have increased the number of beds in their Spinal Units since 1964 from 263 to
324 to make some beds available for non-insured victims of road accidents and industry.
