In memory of the opening of the Benghazi Children’s Hospital, May 21, 1956
In memory of Dr. Roy Saxton Cornell, who gave his life on a humanitarian mission
The Barqah Heritage and Identity Organization delicately introduces this introductory and historical article, in appreciation, thanks and gratitude for the humanitarian role and the noble work carried out by the founder of the Children’s Hospital in Benghazi, American Dr. Roy S. Cornell (Dr. Roy Saxton Cornell), and for his great work and distinguished efforts in developing health care, especially in the neonatal department in the capital, Benghazi in particular, and Barqah in general, since the 1950s.
The residents of Barqah, especially the capital Benghazi, are associated with the Children’s Hospital, which is the first health center of its kind in Barqah. For seven decades it has witnessed the memories of the city, witnessed the birth of tens of thousands of its children, and went through important stages in the history of its development and its health reality, which was full of services of high medical level and world class in all areas of healthcare.
The story dates back to February 2, 1955, when Dr. Roy S. Cornell supervised the remodeling of a hotel building destroyed by the war (which was before that a hotel that had been damaged by World War II) and turned it into the hospital. With American funding, he purchased equipment and arranged the staff, and on May 21, 1956, Dr. Roy S. Cornell opened the Adventist Hospital, Benghazi, officially. The hospital became a general hospital, consisting of 32 beds, and managed by a medical director. It consisted of surgical and obstetrics departments , as well as laboratory, x-ray and pharmaceutical services, and in 1964 a nursing school was opened to train registered nurses and auxiliaries for nurses. In August 1965, a contract was signed to build the new Adventist Hospital in Fuwaihat, now the Children’s Hospital, and after less than 3 years, the new hospital was opened on January 17, 1968, and the old building became the headquarters of the Faculty of Medicine in Benghazi upon its opening. Unfortunately, on November 23, 1969, the Libyan military government nationalized the hospital, and the expatriate staff, consisting of 48 families, and unmarried workers, from the United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and many Arab countries in the Middle East, were transferred out of the country.
The American Dr. Roy S. Dr. Roy S. Cornell is thirty-eight years old, and he gave up his thriving medical practice in Seattle, Washington, to become the only doctor at a Benghazi hospital. However, he contracted the polio disease in Benghazi, due to the fact that he deprived himself of the polio vaccine when the shipment arrived as it was not enough for everyone. So through altruism and sacrifice, he subsequently suffered from polio, and ended up paralyzed after two and a half years of giving.
Barqah Heritage and Identity Organization extends its thanks, praise, and gratitude for the great work that the American doctor provided, which we will not forget and in his remembrance, he will remain immortal.
